Cabbages and Kings

At the end of WWII American manufacturing entered it's golden age. We were virtually the only country left on the face of the earth that had it's manufacturing capabilites intact. Europe and Asia would take decades to dig out from the rubble of the global conflict while we were able to immediately switch over from "arsenal of democracy" production to civilian useage.

American manufacturing in general, and the automobile industry in particular, enjoyed spectacular growth and almost no competition. American car manufacturers grew fat and lazy, without competition they lost their edge and forgot how to compete in a global market.

Like the song says, those were the days my friend, we thought they'd never end.

But end they did. Faced with stiff competition from emerging Japanese automakers, American auto production hit a slump in the mid 70s from which we have not quite yet recovered. General Motors has axed Oldsmobile, the Plymouth moniker is likewise a relic of the past, and Chrysler is owned by a foreign company.

Twenty years ago we were focused like a laser beam on the Soviet Union. We stood four-square against Communist expansion, and the USSR was the nexus on which that expansion centered. With the collapse of the Evil Empire we were suddenly without purpose. Our military was curtailed when it was not cut outright, their reward for their steadfast opposition to Soviet aggression was to be downsized.

No good deed goes unpunished.

I have been following the saga of the 15 British sailors and Marines who have been illegally detained by the Iranians. This is not the first offense, indeed this is just the latest play in the Iranian hostage game.

The British are responding with strongly worded missives, with promises of even more strongly worded missives to follow. The Iranians are, for the most part, ignoring the empty threats of the toothless lion.

Maggie Thatcher took her country to war over a sheep infested rock off the Argentinian coast called Falklands. One can only wonder what she would do about having 15 of her servicemembers snatched from a Royal Navy vessel in Iraqi waters. I think her response would have involved multiple applications of high explosives with a "strongly worded" missive that said "Cease and desist, and let our people go, lest we become extremely annoyed at you."

Why are the Iranians engaging in this tomfoolery you might wonder, the simple reason is that they can. They are trying to make the point that Western civilization has become so deseased that they are no longer willing to stand up for themselves. And, a civilization that will no longer stand up for itself will deservedly cease to exist.

I sometimes wonder at those who will advocate peace at any cost. I don't think those who would mouth that empty platitude really understands what the cost may be. Europe for the most part has seemingly surrendered to dhimmitude. I would still place bets on Eastern Europe, only because it's citizenery have recently emerged from forced servitude under the Soviet state. However, one must remember that that era, too, is passing from the collective memory.

Islamic Jihad has vowed to bring the entire world under the crescent banner, and the peace at any cost crowd has refused to stand in their way. Citing the cause of multiculturism they refuse to see evil. The cost, before it is done, will be bloodshed, slavery and death.

What does this have to do with the American automobile industry and the fall of the Soviet Union? Only this; left without purpose or competition entrophy has done it's damage on our national psyche. We have reached the tunnel at the end of the light, and the dark has blinded us. Our enemies, and make no mistake they are our enemies, are not likewise handicapped.

The loyal opposition is solely concerned with gaining and holding power at home, damn the consequences. Who cares if the world burns, as long as we are on top of it. They not only dismiss the danger, they refuse to admit the danger exists; as if denying it's very existence will make it go away.

It won't. No more than Japanese competition went away because domestic automakers refused to acknowledge it. It won't go away, it will only grow stronger. We ignore it at our peril. This is not George Bush's war, it's not the Republican's war. It's our war, and if we refuse to acknowledge it it will still exist, and if we refuse to fight it we only ensure our own defeat.

At the end of World War Two we had Churchill and Truman to keep us focused on Communist aggression. At the end of the cold war we had nothing, and it shows. If we don't get focused now on Islamic Jihad we will lose to it before we even realize it's there.

"For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me." Job 3:25