American Defeatists’ Sublime Faith in the Ridiculous

Letter to Philippians: Isn’t it time to “give up on these defeatists” who trash American ideals & subvert every good thing it tries to do for the most? “From ‘No kings’ & Iran to data centers, too many Americans are fighting progress” & replacing it with foolish cowardliness …

Most of the agreed upon above was the gist if not quote of WSJ columnist Andy Kessler and the final flourish about cowards & fools are attributable to me. Confessed Kessler: “I can’t stand all the defeatism. After a few short weeks, multiple New York Times columnists used the word ‘quagmire’ to describe Iran. Really? No navy, few launchers, dwindling missiles & drones, plus nukes under rubble, yet the Guardian writes that the president ‘has lost his Iran war.” Yet, if one honestly reads the totality of WSJ articles appearing recently (along with the related Fox News stories that publish under the same corporate banner), one might conclude that Iran’s downing of two US airplanes was the equivalent of Germany hurdling back the Allies’ triumphant D-Day.

As Kessler detailed, this obsession with defeatism is more than just about recent history. Noted Kessler: “Late capitalism, post capitalism, ‘America is in decline’ pronouncers, partisan professors, socialist mayors, ‘ICE out’ screaming celebrities” are so tiresome. Again, I’d go a step further. The defeatism has been fueled by progressives, socialists & Marxists since WWII. They slowly erode American confidence in its exceptionalism by endless cynicism that culminates in their maxim “no good American deed must go unpunished.” Of course, their whining is hypocritical. Note, e.g., how the snivelers now beg for cheap Iranian oil but not its nukes, then, mock Trump for being the ONLY leader since 1979 to make it possible. Oh, right. They say the Iranian mullahs have “won” as they sit in their nuclear rubble promising to rain hell on USA rather than the other way around. But give No. 47, Andy & me a break. As Napoleon said in his 1812 retreat & Lincoln suggested in his 1858 House Divided speech, “there is a fine line between the sublime & the ridiculous.”

Davd Soul