Cue Twilight Zone Music...

America's Moral Paralysis

By THOMAS SOWELL

July 27, 2007 -- "THE term "moral paralysis" has been used to describe the inaction of France, England and other European democracies in the 1930s, as they watched Hitler build up the military forces that he later used to attack them.

It is a term that may be painfully relevant to our own times.

Back in the '30s, the governments of the democratic countries knew what Hitler was doing - and they knew that they had enough military superiority at that point to stop his military buildup in its tracks. But they did nothing to stop him. Instead, they turned to what is still the magic mantra today - "negotiations."

"Moral paralysis" came from many things. The death of a million French soldiers in the First World War and disillusionment with the peace that followed cast a pall over a whole generation. Pacifism became vogue among the intelligentsia and spread into educational institutions. History may be interesting but it is the present and the future that pose the crucial question: Is America today the France of yesterday?

We know that Iran is moving swiftly toward nuclear weapons while the United Nations is moving slowly - or not at all - toward doing anything to stop them.

It is a sign of our irresponsible Utopianism that anyone would even expect the U.N. to do anything that would make any real difference. The U.N.'s history demonstrates again and again that going to such places is a way for weak-kneed leaders of democracies to look like they are doing something when in fact they are doing nothing.

The Iranian leaders are not going to stop unless they get stopped. And, like Hitler, they don't think we have the guts to stop them.

Nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran and its international terrorist allies will be a worst threat than Hitler ever was. But, before that happens, the big question is: Are we France? Are we morally paralyzed, perhaps fatally?"

So what is this guy? Some kind of fruit cake? How many wars does he want us fighting all at once? Doesn't he know that a legion of spooks are swarming throughout Iran, looking, always looking, for the best way to take these suckers out with just the right surgical strike? Isn't he aware of how very many plots and schemes and outright dirty tricks our invisible warriors are throwing the kibosh to, each and every day?

We are currently expending more money and resources than the rest of the world combined deciding the best means to hit the Iranians and hit them hard. What is this guy? Some pre-schooler who thinks wars happen overnight and with the flick of a switch?

In the real world, things, you see, take time. Bill Clinton gutted the military, Rumsfeld saw one too many video games then decided that Star Wars gadgetry was better than boots on the ground, and we've an all-volunteer armed service that is stretch a little thin. Not as thin as the loons would ask you to believe, but without a draft it isn't easy getting EVERYTHING done all at once.