I really LOVED this article. Your comments on just war versus pacifism were right on even though you said you haven’t really studied philosophy in general. I believe that there can be just wars, especially to defend your people or territory. Pacifism can only happen in a free country, because everyone is pacified, so to speak, in a dictatorship. Like yourself, I’m a lifelong student of history. One of my favorite periods is from pre World War I, to the start of WWII. After the “War to end all wars” Europe and America went into a period of euphoria and prosperity during the Roaring Twenties. However in Asia, Imperial Japan had been rising as a colonial power since the 1910 Russo-Japanese war. Germany was saddled with enormous reparations payments as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, which eventually broke their economy and began the rise of Nazism. The Soviet Union was busy fighting to take over smaller countries like Estonia Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine , where they starved 2 million people to death. Europe & America were tired of killing and war, and the majority of Americans were isolationist. Why should we help the European countries who have been warring for years. Once Hitler rose to power and began to demand that Britain & France give him other countries, the Brits & French just gave away countries that didn’t even belong to them. So as I observe what’s happening currently in the world, it reminds me of the 1930’s world history. Today there are new alliances against us. China, Russia, Iran, and their terrorists are aligned against democratic countries. America & it’s allies have been at war since the end of WWII. Vietnam in particular caused tremendous changes in American society & culture. Pacifism became entrenched in a good part of society, while those who could not avoid the military draft went to war and experienced it’s horrors. I was one of those who enlisted and went to Vietnam as a patriotic American. While I was there I began to ask why we weren’t fighting to win? Everything was about defense. Why weren’t we invading North Vietnam? The answer I heard was we didn’t want to get Russia involved in the war. So we really didn’t have a strategy to win, just to outlast the other side, but they out lasted us. Today after 60 years of fighting terrorism, 2 wars in Iraq, and 23 years of war in Afghanistan, the American people are tired of war and so we have a rising new isolationism in America today. It seems to be conservative, but I would point out that this new isolationism is in both Liberal & Conservatives. I actually think it’s more of a Libertarian point of view that has been adopted by others.
Hi Scott,
I really LOVED this article. Your comments on just war versus pacifism were right on even though you said you haven’t really studied philosophy in general. I believe that there can be just wars, especially to defend your people or territory. Pacifism can only happen in a free country, because everyone is pacified, so to speak, in a dictatorship. Like yourself, I’m a lifelong student of history. One of my favorite periods is from pre World War I, to the start of WWII. After the “War to end all wars” Europe and America went into a period of euphoria and prosperity during the Roaring Twenties. However in Asia, Imperial Japan had been rising as a colonial power since the 1910 Russo-Japanese war. Germany was saddled with enormous reparations payments as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, which eventually broke their economy and began the rise of Nazism. The Soviet Union was busy fighting to take over smaller countries like Estonia Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine , where they starved 2 million people to death. Europe & America were tired of killing and war, and the majority of Americans were isolationist. Why should we help the European countries who have been warring for years. Once Hitler rose to power and began to demand that Britain & France give him other countries, the Brits & French just gave away countries that didn’t even belong to them. So as I observe what’s happening currently in the world, it reminds me of the 1930’s world history. Today there are new alliances against us. China, Russia, Iran, and their terrorists are aligned against democratic countries. America & it’s allies have been at war since the end of WWII. Vietnam in particular caused tremendous changes in American society & culture. Pacifism became entrenched in a good part of society, while those who could not avoid the military draft went to war and experienced it’s horrors. I was one of those who enlisted and went to Vietnam as a patriotic American. While I was there I began to ask why we weren’t fighting to win? Everything was about defense. Why weren’t we invading North Vietnam? The answer I heard was we didn’t want to get Russia involved in the war. So we really didn’t have a strategy to win, just to outlast the other side, but they out lasted us. Today after 60 years of fighting terrorism, 2 wars in Iraq, and 23 years of war in Afghanistan, the American people are tired of war and so we have a rising new isolationism in America today. It seems to be conservative, but I would point out that this new isolationism is in both Liberal & Conservatives. I actually think it’s more of a Libertarian point of view that has been adopted by others.