Message for a united America

Last of three parts

To conclude this series, we begin with the observation that Stalin was an ideologue. He was an intelligent, well-read man who believed fervently in communism. He assumed entire classes of citizens had to be eliminated to move Russia forward to a communist nirvana. His underlings came to understand they had to “perform” to meet approval of this madman if they were to survive.

A passage in Solzhenitsyn’s book came faintly to mind while I was feasting on Mr. Parker’s waffles. Upon returning to our home, I looked up the passage. Tanya Khodkevich wrote, “You can pray freely. But just so God alone can hear.” She was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for putting these thoughts on paper. In certain parts of today’s world, equally harmless and sincere statements will land a person in jail. In some countries, if you pray to the “wrong” god, you may be stoned to death.

So what?

I suspect some readers will say, “Uyless, your comparisons are between a system that existed some 60 years ago, to the present-day state of affairs in America. That past is not pertinent to the present. The gulag is gone. Stalin is dead. The Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall are history.”

I say the opposite: The past is pertinent to the present. Things have not changed all that much. They’ve just shifted their venues. Similar starvations and outright murders, brought on by modern-day maniacs, are occurring throughout the world.

The more I have come to know about the Stalins of the world and other perverse mandarins, the more I have come to believe civilized societies have a moral obligation to eradicate them.

But my idealistic notion is an abstract idea. Whom do we choose to displace? Which regimes do we eliminate? Does America, as it has been doing increasingly, take on the role of the world’s policeman to attempt to solve all these problems?

Even more problematic, once launched, how do we replace a centuries-old milieu — often festered with deeply embedded religious dogma, hatred for women’s rights, animosity toward toleration, and abhorrence of change — with a republican democracy? As is often said: Dialing up a war is more difficult than dialing it down.

Regime change, with accompanying preventive wars, often result in chaos or the emergence of a more repressive regime. Witness present day Vietnam, Iran, Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan.

I am not wise enough to have answers to the questions above. But then, I have yet to learn if anyone else has the answers, either. As one example, I have not seen a plan coming from the western powers that provides anything remotely resembling a solution to the Syrian civil war.

Darwin in Guccis

Perhaps my role model, Mark Twain, would say Darwin’s ideas on survival did not stop at the doorstep when we humans put on Guccis. This aspect of Darwinism is still out there. Maybe Twain would observe that we humans might preach the goodness of a religion or greatness of a political creed till our tongues run dry. But in the end, in the final countdown, our adversaries will go with what gives them the best chance to survive.

Four more thoughts for these articles: First, the Cold War was a war we had to fight. If you have doubts, read about Stalin’s gulag as a starter.

Second, soon, America will have a new president. Regardless of our political colors, let us Americans get behind the winner and prod Congress to fill the vacancy (and in the not too distant future, vacancies) on the Supreme Court. The situation of not having a full complement of justices (and the benches of lower courts) is compromising America’s judicial system.

Third, our military leaders continue to ask the federal government to set up a predictable, long-term budget process. Gen. Martin Dempsey, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, laments the budget process and its “grotesque uncertainty” pertaining to the military budget. He also adds, “Sequestration hung over my head like the sword of Damocles the entire time I was chairman.”

Fourth, the Congressional ideologues should restrict their gridlocks to social issues, not to the underpinnings of America’s infrastructure.

What else to do?

We should remember that in the end, America and the West alone did not defeat communism. Communism defeated communism. In the end, America and the West alone will not defeat militant Islamism. Militant Islamism will defeat militant Islamism.

That said, it is vital we assist the militant Islamics’ defeat. We might even have to sacrifice! Therein lies a problem. As effective as it is and as much as I admire it, the all-volunteer military has distanced Americans from the consequences of going to war. It has led some citizens to adapt the “we shop while they fight” mentality.

To get the citizenry involved and committed to a war of the magnitude of an Iraq or Afghanistan, a tax hike should be imposed to support a specific war, with the money earmarked and reserved only for this war. This action would test the nation’s resolve. As it is now, we can go to war with little sacrifice from the present citizenry. We pass the debt resulting from a current war to future generations; to our children and grandchildren.

Part of the landscape

Psychopaths are part of the human race. They inevitably emerge from our diverse gene pool. Those in the world who have the means to do so must step in to combat these social miscreants and protect other humans from the psychos’ deadly misdeeds.

Unfortunately, that is the reality of life. What can help matters greatly is to have America’s allies pitch in more money, troops, and commitment, instead of Uncle Sam carrying the lion’s share of these burdens.

In closing, permit me to repeat a thought expressed earlier in this series: We need not make America great again. If one travels to most parts of the world, it is evident that America is still a great nation. Certainly, America has its fissures. Our job as citizens is to unite — and I emphasize the word unite — to fix those fissures.

In a few weeks, my family and I will be traveling to the sunny south to spend part of the winter. Wherever you spend your winter, may it be blessed with abundant food and freedom, two luxuries we Americans can take for granted, but are all too often denied to less fortunate humans.

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Uyless Black is registered as an Independent in the state of Idaho. He may or may not contest the outcome of the Presidential election, depending on who wins. Uyless resides in Hayden, Idaho and Palm Springs, Calif.