We have been through it many times before, we Americans. When we are not at war ... when we are not in imminent danger ... we want to cut back on our military. Some among us even speak of our military power and our military people in unkind terms. We would like to think all the peoples of the world are kindly people, or at least not hostile.
History tells us differently. History says if we leave a power void in the governing of nations, some power will rise up and fill that void. And if the good people of the world do not provide a good guiding power, then a bad power (rogues, if you will) will take over.
I think it is fair to say America as a nation, and most of us who are Americans, are uncomfortable with this new role we have inherited ... this role as the keeper of world peace, this position as the number one political power of the world, this role of leadership.
And yet history says very clearly, time and again, that if good people are called to lead and they fail to do so, bad people step in. Like it or not, it now seems clear that if we Americans do not step up and accept our full responsibility as the leader of the free world, then the bad guys will reign. And if we leave the bad guys in power long enough, and let a few of them get together as Germany and Japan and Italy did in World War II, we'll be in big trouble. We may not like our new responsibility, but if we don't lead, who are we willing to answer to? The United Nations?
This is Gordon Sawyer, from a window on historic Green Street.
Thursday
August 7th, 2025
3:00PM
