The Roman empire fell due to internal decadence. I believe that segments of American society can certainly match ancient Rome, orgy for orgy but decadence isn't what will bring about our downfall.
Political Correctness will.
The story of Nidal Hassan and the way the media and the government is treating it is really scary. There's a time bomb in our midst and all the powers that be can say is "go about your business, don't worry your pretty little heads about it."
What if, back in 1776, as Paul Revere made his famous ride, some journalist had been hot on his heals yelling "THERE ARE NO BRITISH, GO BACK TO SLEEP!" Or worse than that, every home had had a nanny in it, patting heads and saying in a soothing voice "That Paul Revere, he's such a hater. Ignore him or everyone will think you're a racist Anglophobe. Drink this tea, it will help you sleep."
There are voices out there, crying out a warning.
This is a great example from Charles Krauthammer. The very people who's job it is to warn us and protect us from this kind of thing are pretending it's something else entirely.
This one is George W. Bush's fault.
While Obama certainly hasn't done anything to fix the situation, it was Bush's military that allowed Hasan to remain in place and rise to the rank of Lt. Colonel, while spouting his anit-American rhetoric. Hasan didn't happen over night and he didn't develop in a void. Plenty of people were aware of his sentiments and the increasingly dangerous vibe he emitted. They were one and all reluctant to do anything about it because in Bush's military, even while we still called it a "war on terror", they had no confidence that the situation would be treated with the seriousness it deserved, or that they could report this dangerous man without suffering severe consequences to their own careers.
I lay the blame for 9/11 on Clinton, who spent his years in office ignoring the threat of Islamic terrorism even while they attacked us time and again. It took years for those men to plan that attack and the Clinton administration helped create the environment that made them successful.
I lay the blame for the Ft. Hood massacre on Bush, who spent his years in office ignoring the fact that the terrorists we are currently fighting
do happen to be Muslim. They are most dangerous when they are here yet we have done nothing to secure our own borders and we give Muslim Americans the benefit of every doubt we can muster even when they engage in threatening behavior like the flying Imams and threatening rhetoric like Hasan.
Am I saying all Muslims are terrorists? Heck no. There are over a billion of them. If they were all terrorists, a lot more of the rest of us would be dead.
What I am saying is that we have to stop pretending we don't know who the terrorists are. When a guy goes around saying that Infidels should be beheaded, could we please believe that he means it? Can we please say so without the finger of blame being pointed at us?
Can we please start treating terrorists with the seriousness they deserve?
As usual,
Mark Steyn says it best.
