The lasting power of force as a governing philosophy

I was watching this documentary, World at War, that features a long-haired Stephen Ambrose, at one point, which is fascinating.



And I think I came upon part of the reason why we've been going through this dumbass political period.

I am learning, with kids, that when people stop looking for better lessons to understand challenges they face in life, they, generally, are stuck playing out the stupid goddamn logic that they have been operating with up until that point.

And much of the logic of American foreign policy in the late 20th and early 21st century is a holdover from the beginning of World War II, the last war from which America feels a clear sense of moral leadership.

And the one lesson that dumbasses who don't think about anything else serious but the last fuckin' thing they discussed in some high school or undergraduate class 30 years ago is that Hitler had to be confronted with force. And that avoiding doing so cost many lives, tragically.

It's an important lesson from history. But it is not an absolute lesson, for anyone with half a brain to consider when and where force should be used, which is the obvious question to anyone who thinks before they act, at all, and is not just rationalizing their sloppy reasoning or their will to power.

Hitler at his height: 90% approval rating.

Obviously force nor popularity nor any other principle other than what does real good in the world is a good enough justification for power or how to use it.

But, like those Germans, Americans have been rationalizing power out of intellectual laziness and a lust for power and its spoils.

Hitler lost. And everyone who rationalizes power in such way will lose, eventually.

The question, as Ambrose argued in a What If? series essay he wrote about World War II, is not whether such power-mongers lose. The question is how long does it take before they lose and how many people are hurt in the meantime.