Lessons from the past?

"Know evil, see evil, stop evil. Thank you Sir Churchill for what you did for us. Thank you for what you did for the world. Thank you for our freedom." 

Just finished watching "Dunkirk". That was less than a week after watching "The Darkest Hour". Those two movies, back to back, were excellent for the purpose of brushing up on recent world history. For example, what can happen when the leadership of this great country decides to search for unicorns instead of facing evil down evil. Why do I say that? FDR, at the start of the war in Europe, left our allies hanging out to dry. If not for the unbelievable and unflinching fortitude of Winston Churchill, this article might be penned in German instead of English. And it might be about an entirely different subject.

After World War I, the nations of this world decided to form an organization which would prevent another "Great War". The League of Nations was formed, and history has shown us that it was about as useless as air conditioning in Antarctica. But, it was not until the 1930's, when the "Beer Hall Putsch's" hosted by Adolph Hitler started to signal danger, the League should have stood up and taken notice. But they did not. In the image of Woodrow Wilson, the civilized world decide to "take a pass". Then one of the people who "took a pass" prior to World War II becoming a "hot war", was FDR.

FDR had bigger fish to fry. After coming out of the Great Depression, FDR felt compelled to jump start the economy. FDR knew government needed to be involved. Thus, the New Deal was hatched. Social Security, the best thing since canned beer, was going to be the law of the land. And while all this social engineering was going on, all hell was breaking out in Europe.

What FDR failed to realize, was this one very important fact. The League of Nations was a dismal failure. It did nothing to prevent Hitler, Mussolini, or Tojo. By the time that France had fallen, and Britain was fighting for its very existence, FDR was back on the other side of the pond. He was living the fat life in Hyde Park as well as the White House.

Seeing so many young men slaughtered on the beaches of Dunkirk reminded me of one thing. FDR gave the brush off to Churchill during the early days of World War II. The United States could have helped Britain by sending ships, planes, or whatever, to help. Instead, we waited until December of 1941, when our fleet was attacked. Then we decided to get into the war with Japan, followed soon by war against Hitler and Mussolini in Europe.

What are the lessons then from the past? Forget the League of Nations. Forget the United Nations. Recognize evil for what it is, and confront it early. Why Obama took the bust of Churchill out of the White House is beyond me. We should have a monument on the Washington Mall just for him. Why? If he was not who he was, Britain would have fallen. If Britain had fallen, the next target would have been us. We might not have survived the onslaught Germany had planned for us. 

In my book, Winston Churchill stands heads and shoulders above many others. He kept the free world free, while we, the "sleeping giant", was still asleep. We need to learn from history, not rewrite it. Know evil, see evil, stop evil. Thank you Sir Churchill for what you did for us. Thank you for what you did for the world. Thank you for our freedom.