Accidental Hegemony

I have spent more time recently staring at podiums and listening to insipid prattle from so-called leaders, both foreign and domestic, than I would wish upon…well, no, that’s not true. I think these people should be forced to listen to their own shrill whinings. I would be interested to see if the unrelenting repetition of their arguments would cause the air around them to achieve equilibrium with the intellectual black holes which serve to replace their brains. If so, we could make vacuum pumps obsolete and these wasted bags of flesh would finally contribute to the society which serves as host to their parasitic existences.

I have also stared to the flag of the United Nations Against Sovereignty and Semites until the very cloth itself is an affront to my eyes. What subtext of prejudice led the flag’s designers to place such a distorted perspective of world geography as a representative globe? And what mental malfunction made anyone ever consider coloring a flag baby powder-blue? The skewed map and effeminate color tells all that is needful to know about the organization.

Rancor aside, the fact is that the people who oppose America are very well cogent of what they do. We should be so fortunate as to face international leaders and domestic fifth columnists who act merely from ignorance. The ill-informed masses, the burnt-out hippies, arrogant children at university, and other “useful idiots” may not understand the consequence of their actions but be assured, their leaders do.

France, Germany, and to a lesser extent Russia seek to reestablish Napoleon’s dream to rule continental Europe and the Near East. China, among others, delights in any ill that befalls America. A vast horde of nations, including some as close as Canada, want to see America weakened out of raw envy. Communists within the U.S. itself manipulate universities and students and urge them to vandalous acts of “civil disobedience” which, in a time of war is better termed treason. Most heinous, to my eyes, is the constant maneuvering of the Democratic party to undermine the Commander-in-Chief, divide the American people, and position themselves for political gain from national loss, all the while mouthing the platitude of “supporting the troops”. The words, of course, are in direct contrast to the actions.

I must return again to the Franco-Prussian perfidity. An examination of the decade of the 1990s alone places thousands of American military deaths at the feet of the French and no honest historian can argue that French actions have been the acts of an ally. The French withdrawal from NATO was one of their more honest moments, not an exception to the norm. Beyond the obvious history lies the broad sea of emerging evidence of French and German state financing and support of terrorists, repeated violations of sanctions to provide arms and equipment to enemies of the world, and their contributions to, nearly the creation of, Iraq’s chemical weapons and nuclear programs. In the past two months, as American troops encircle the Iraqi borders, well after the condemnation of resolution 1441, the French have provided military aircraft parts, expressly forbidden under sanctions, to Iraq. Yes, the French, on the eave of war, have been provisioning the enemy. Troops on the ground report to us, literally hours before the war of liberation begins, French nationals in Iraq are busily destroying evidence of direct French support for the despotic regime. This fact leave me so incredulous that I must state it again lest, gentle reader, you misunderstand. French diplomats and their aides are destroying evidence of their support of the Iraqi military and their assistance in the creation of chemical weaponry. This so-called ally has armed the enemy, provided repeated succor and political cover, and still wish to hide their traitorous nature and be forgiven. It is truly beyond the pale.

But these facts are not the question, when pressed, even the French government dissembles but cannot deny them. The question, rather, is why. It is not difficult to understand why dictators and despots, who comprise the bulk of the UNASS are opposed to action against one of their own ilk. Nor is it difficult to understand why nations which do not share our ideologies, such as China and Russia, vocally oppose us and withhold support. Even Germany’s explosion of pacifism and anti-Semitism is not wholly unreasonable given their national past. It is a grievous insult that they care so little for American lives but, for these countries, it is no surprise. These nations have been our historic enemies.

However, there is a clear distinction to be made—even nations which we consider enemies have not done what the “ally” France has. The French have taken action to oppose the U.S. and provide aid and comfort to an Iraqi regime they publicly condemn. The French have acted with open malice and hostility in a calculated attempt to divide the Trans-Atlantic Alliance and increase American casualties. The French—that nation which fought so valiantly for their own freedom against Nazi Germany, that nation which has nothing at stake in this conflict other than their own interests in oil and power—while noble men fight and die on the ground, continue to undermine America. Again, why?

It has been my experience that an opponent is most likely to accuse others of what they themselves are engaged in. (sic) Further, in this age of globalized communication, it is common for like minds to share terminology. It may be a logical stretch to say that Leftists, communists, and the DNC are speaking on behalf of the French but it is only a stretch, not a leap, and it is very reasonable to see that they articulate the French position. Among the weak, the traitorous, the fearful, and the anti-American—throughout those who articulate the French position and from the French government itself, one word steadily advances to the fore: hegemony.

They spit the word as an epithet at the American President and the American people. We are cowboys who seek to establish a global hegemony. I believe that the accusation of “cowboy” is also intended to be an insult but I cannot find it in my heart to take it as anything other than a compliment. It is because they do not understand what it is to be an American, what it is to be a cowboy. In the same way, they deliberately misattribute our intentions. They further gamble on the mistaken belief that Americans are ignorant of world politics and divided, thereby allowing their actions to go unpunished, forgotten and forgiven. They do not realize that the voices of Hollywood and peace protesters are the aberrations in this nation, not the main and that, though the American people are slow to wrath and forgiving to a fault, we are also a thorough and responsible folk and we will see this through and deal with all our enemies, militarily and diplomatically.

In the minds of the French, hegemony is empire—the desire to stand above ethics and morality and to rule the world by a tyranny of strength. They should know; it is their plan, not ours. They have labored for years to achieve dominance over the European Union, even denying Turkey entrance into the E.U. because they see the Turkish as a threat to that dominance. It is a testimony to their desperation that they offered that same entry to Turkey, if only the Turkish would oppose the Americans. Only desperation can explain the shrieking tantrum of the French government telling the smaller E.U. nations to shut up and be seen, not heard.

The French defense of Iraq is no surprise. They have invested heavily in Iraq as a client state in an attempt to gain power and influence in the middle east. Now, as the Trans-Atlantic Alliance moves to liberate the Iraqi people from the yoke of tyranny, France sees their dreams of hegemony fade into a desert mirage. Too immature to comprehend the American ideal, despite their presumption of old world sophistication, they presume we share their self-serving goals.

But what of America? Repeatedly, as America makes decisions based on principal, its influence grows beyond that of nations acting out of ambition. While the power and standing of nations seeking hegemony fades with every corrupt evil they perpetrate, America moves forward. By doing what is right rather than what is expedient, America moves toward a dominance it has not courted. As this war of ideology plays out across a global stage, freedom gains more converts than sophistic diplomacy. The greatest threat to liberty is, not despots and terrorists, but ignorance among the electorate.

The twentieth century demonstrates that, though it is a grudging, painful progress filled with sacrifice, the pursuit of virtue and liberty leads to power while the quest for power leads, in the long term, only to a loss of liberty. It may be said, that the history of nation has shown, in this case, right makes might. America may find itself stumbling accidentally into the very hegemony it has been accused of seeking, not by ambition, but by duty.

Is an American hegemony the terrible thing of Gaulic nightmares? Perhaps not. They misunderstand America, what of hegemony. I consulted the dictionary, that mythic land where words have meaning and, like our President, they mean what they say. Hegemony: leadership or influence, usually applied to politics.

So. The French boogie-man is a world lead by American standards and principles. If leadership is the mark of hegemony, America claimed it as a birthright decades ago.

It seems to me, a cowboy hegemony looks to be a pretty good place to live.