It was 75 years ago this week that Germany offered its unconditional surrender to American and Allied forces. The Second World War was not quite over—there was still the defeat of Japan to worry about. Still, the Nazis had been defeated, their cities reduced to rubble, and their leader had committed suicide rather than face the wrath of the Russians or the justice of a war-crime trial.
Americans fought their war, won their peace, and accepted their responsibility to preserve freedom in the world.
Initially, America had been reluctant to enter the war. At the time, it had a third-rate military and a reluctance to spend money on national defense. Then, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and America’s fate changed forever.
Less than four years later, it had firmly established itself as a global superpower, and the only credible opposition to the looming threat of Russian communism.
Unlike 75 years ago, however, the America of 2020 is no longer a nation certain of its exceptionalism, or secure in its convictions. And the Democratic Party of today is not the one that was led by President Harry Truman in 1945, a leader who understood the need to contain Soviet expansionism and promote democratic ideals.
75 years ago, Americans fought their war, won their peace, and accepted their responsibility to preserve freedom in the world.
Could we do it again today?
[caption id="attachment_182305" align="aligncenter" width="1920"]
General Dwight D. Eisenhower.[/caption]
DEMOCRATIC DENIALISM AND CHINESE HEGEMONY
The D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944, commanded by American Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, was unquestionably one of the greatest military victories and logistical triumphs of WWII. Although it clearly accelerated the end of the war in Europe, it served another important function: as an assurance that Russian aggression would be checked before the Red Army could march all the way to the Atlantic Ocean and Sovietized all of Europe.
America helped the Allies win the war in Europe, but it guaranteed the post-war peace and the freedom of Western Europe entirely on its own.
America helped the Allies win the war in Europe, but it guaranteed the post-war peace and the freedom of Western Europe entirely on its own. Great Britain may have stood alone against Nazi Germany in the early part of the war, but, by 1945, it was a tired, depleted state that was struggling to control its out-of-date empire, and was entirely without the financial or military resources necessary to fight communism. As such, the United States of America, fresh from its triumph over Japan, turned its gaze sites upon the Soviet Union and world communism. It was then that the United States realized its mission to lead the Free World.
Today, that mission is in peril.
There is obvious and mounting evidence that China poses an economic and military threat to America’s future. The Democrats, however, refuse to even acknowledge China poses an existential threat, let alone how destructive their cultural and political divisiveness is in the face of that threat.
Listen to the criticism of former President Barack Obama’s ambassador to China and ex-Senator, Max Baucus (D-MT), who pronounced hostility to Chinese aggression as something akin to Adolf Hitler’s anti-communism: “Here is what really concerns me … The administration’s rhetoric is so strong against China, it’s over the top,” Baucus told CNN. “We’re entering a kind of an era which is similar to Joe McCarthy back when he was red-baiting. And [the] State Department attacking communism—[that’s] a little bit like Hitler in the ‘30s.”
China could invade the American coast, and there would be many in the national media and in the newsrooms of our nation that would proclaim they were just here to help, or, as NBC likes to put it: asserting their “global leadership.”
You can be certain that no Democrat came forth to explain that Baucus was no longer in alignment with the party’s principles, or had become out of touch with Democratic thinking in his retirement years.
Maybe that’s why the left-leaning, largely Democratic American media routinely defend China and its Communist leadership—even openly relaying CCP propaganda, the kind that resembles what you might see on Chinese state media itself.
While China was lying about the number of people who died from the coronavirus, and covering up the shameful manner in which it reacted to the crisis, NBC reporter Ken Dilanian was lauding the Chinese for taking the sceptre of “global leadership”—even as it provided defective face masks to the world or sold personal protective equipment at exorbitant prices.
The relationship seems to work both ways. This week, the Chinese communist media spent much of its time name-calling Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, calling him an “evil” man, a “degenerate” that was “spitting poison.” Their media seemed to reinforce talking points that might have been prepared by the Democratic Party—most especially the Democratic party led by former Vice President Joe Biden. Biden has repeatedly assured the CCP of his party’s policy of appeasement towards China, saying he fully understands their “one child policy,” and has repeatedly said that China poses no threat and is “no problem.”
China could invade the American coast, and there would be many in the national media and in the newsrooms of our nation that would proclaim they were just here to help, or, as NBC likes to put it: asserting their “global leadership.”
[caption id="attachment_182303" align="aligncenter" width="1920"]
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill at the Tehran Conference.[/caption]
DIVISIVENESS AND DISUNITY
Americans rallied around President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941—even if they didn’t like or approve of his New Deal and his tendency to view government as a solution, not a problem. They did so because they believed in a larger American project, one that, despite Jim Crow in the South and pockets of racism in the North, was still overwhelmingly the best hope for mankind.
That unity and that clear vision no longer exists in America—virtually every crisis we face further exacerbates and reveals the political and cultural divide in this country.
They rallied around Roosevelt because they were smart enough to understand that the Nazis wanted to enslave people and then kill them. The America that went to war believed that America was great—albeit not perfect. It was great enough to warrant the sacrifice of lives and to endure scarcity and hardship.
Today, the Democrats, far from acknowledging the threat China poses, are focused on shadowboxing imaginary foes or erecting adversaries where they ought to see allies. For them, calling “America Great” is a literal hate slur.
Some Democrats prefer to think of President Donald Trump—not a genocidal surveillance state—as the greatest threat to America. Others focus on vapors like “white supremacy” or “the patriarchy.” Take, for instance, the exoneration of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. The left, despite the evidence right in front of their faces, is convinced that General Flynn has somehow been bailed out by corrupt and reactionary forces in the White House. Other Democrats insist it was “white privilege at work.”
Today’s Democrats are more concerned with constructing boogeymen like climate change as issues of political concern, instead of recognizing Chinese hegemony—even going as far as to suggest this futile “war” to keep the temperature constant is the moral equivalent of fighting the Second World War. Moral relativist and intellectual lightweight Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) actually said, in reference to this imagined struggle: “So, when we talk about existential threats, the last time we had a really major existential threat in this country was around World War II. So, we’ve been here before, and we have a blueprint of what we did before. None of these things are new ideas.” She also told supporters, “We’re like, the world is gonna end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change … and like this is the war, this is our World War II.”
You can’t make this material up.
Back in 1941, both Democrats and Republicans had the resolve to fight a war to save the world from both regimes that wanted to enslave the world. The key to this unity was a shared opinion of what America was and why it was great.
That unity and that clear vision no longer exists in America—virtually every crisis we face further exacerbates and reveals the political and cultural divide in this country.
Perhaps nothing better illustrates the bifurcation between those who want to reclaim their freedom and those who want to take it away than the current dispute over pandemic lockdowns. Democrats are increasingly satisfied with letting America stay closed indefinitely; Republicans want a gradual return to normalcy, and increasingly sense that the left is actually enjoying this lockdown, celebrating the loss of individual liberty, and seizing the opportunity both to entrench socialist thinking in America and to lean into the authoritarian moment.
The national lockdown continues to tie Americans into knots; the fight between alarmists and anti-lockdowners demonstrates that there are two Americas today—not just two dominant political parties. The fault lines and fractures have us armed to the teeth, at each other's throats.
Meanwhile, the CCP has launched an all-out misinformation campaign trying to convince the world that American athletes—not their own authoritarian mismanagement—is responsible for the global pandemic. China’s relentless pursuit of domination—over both the world and the United States—will stop for no man or virus.
75 years feels so very long ago. As we recollect and honor the memory of VE day, let’s take this moment to reflect on why that might be.
