Some of America's enemies are openly hostile, like Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who recently called President Bush the Devil and predicted the fall of the United States. Some of America's enemies pretend friendship, like Russian President Vladimir Putin and his KGB entourage. Some enemies are domestic enemies who hope for a revolution that will bring their favored ideology to power. Some are motivated by envy of the rich. Others are motivated by religious fanaticism. And now these enemies appear to be gaining strength, emboldened by the expectation of a nuclear terrorist attack against Washington and New York.
The American people don't pay much attention to their country's enemies. It may be, of course, that Americans don't want to survive as a country or as individuals. It should be admitted that the success of those who hate America is due to American decadence. In addition, there may be a contradiction between national survival and liberty. But this contradiction has never led to the suppression of the country's instinct for national survival until now. This instinct has evaporated in recent decades, replaced with stylish attitudes that borrow from the grab bag of old communist propaganda, newfangled political correctness and a false sense of personal invulnerability.
Some Americans say that America deserves to be hated. I've got emails from American readers who want to see America defeated. Many agree with Hugo Chavez that George W. Bush is the Devil, that U.S. foreign policy is evil. And why shouldn't they express their views? Anti-Americanism is now the mother's milk of the American educational system. Many schools in the United States teach that capitalism is exploitive and American foreign policy is imperialistic. Patriotism isn't taught in American schools. This needs to be understood. The sins of America's past are emphasized while the country's virtues are eclipsed. The achievements of capitalism are denied by environmentalists, socialists and anarchists whose voices have poisoned the well of higher education to the bargain. The older generation has been asleep at the switch, not looking too closely at what their children have been taught. And now the damage is far advanced, and the country's bureaucracies are packed and crowded with people who haven't a clue. Oddly, the United States is undermined by a national psychology that tolerates sedition and treason as if these were legitimate forms of dissent.
And then there are those who prefer foreign dictators to their own elected leaders.
Imagine Chavez coming to New York, speaking at the United Nations then driving to a rally of American supporters. Imagine Chavez coming to this country, calling the American president "the Devil," predicting the country's fall, rallying the "poor nations" to his war banner, cheering a Jihad against Washington by using Arab words, openly standing with the terrorists before the world. Does America notice its enemy to the south? A minority will notice, but the country itself pays little heed. When bin Laden declared war on America hardly anyone noticed. When Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the U.S. for secretly fueling Chechen terrorism after the Beslan tragedy, hardly anyone noticed.
My admonition, of course, is to consider the personal consequences of America's destruction even if you are unable to recognize the propaganda lies of the old Communist Bloc in the new, more stylish attire. Americans will die if America is destroyed. Europe cannot maintain its comfortable existence without American power, but will suffer an equally horrible fate once Washington D.C. has been destroyed. Without the world market, without the continuation of capitalism, billions of people will die in the Third World of famine and pestilence. Without America power the aggressive dictators - like Chavez and his friends in Beijing and Moscow - will not be restrained. They will attack their neighbors, and their offensive will rival that of the Axis powers in the Second World War. This fact should be obvious to everyone, but ignorance has taken hold of the nations. Pride and envy, vanity and stupidity march together toward an unprecedented decade of destruction.
To see a world war blossom, as if from a small bud, one needs to watch the language of the players - soon to be combatants. Only then can we grasp the shifting balance of forces. The words of President Chavez represent the emerging anti-Imperialist coalition that is gaining strength day to day; what used to be called the Communist Bloc now pretends to speak for the entire Third World (including one billion Muslims). In opposition to this bloc, President Bush talks of democracy, peace and freedom. But he is accused of spreading dictatorship, war and oppression. Speaking before the United Nations on Sept. 19, President Bush recalled the events of 9/11/01. "On that terrible day," he said, "extremists killed nearly 3,000 innocent people, including citizens of dozens of nations represented right here in this chamber. Since then, the enemies of humanity have continued their campaign of murder."
On the other side, President Chavez has already suggested that 9/11 was planned and executed by President Bush himself. "The hypothesis that is gaining strength," said Chavez in a recent speech, "which was said on television last night, and which could soon blow up, was that it was the same U.S. imperial power that planned and carried out this terrible terrorist attack [9/11], or act, against its own people and against citizens all over the world."
Imagine a hatred that is white hot. Such hatred will say anything, calling good evil and evil good. While President Bush speaks of a war between "extremists who use terror" and "moderate people who work for peace," President Chavez holds up a copy of the egregious Noam Chomsky as he rallies the oppressed masses of the "southern countries" against American imperialism. "I think I have some inkling what the people's of the south, the oppressed people think," Chavez declared. "They would say, 'Yankee imperialist, go home.' I think that is what those people would say if they were given the microphone and if they could speak with one voice to the American imperialists."
The very phrase, "America imperialist," is a communist expression. And what does imperialism consist of? It signifies nothing more than the spread of the free market, the advancement of economic opportunity, and the elimination of dictatorship. That is what Chavez hates. That is what he fights against. According to Chavez, "The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah [Allah willing]."
Whichever side you are on, the undeniable fact of two sides, of two warring camps, is there for all to see. A world war has been growing out of the events of 9/11. President Bush praises the leaders of the Middle East for endorsing democratic reforms. He praises the heroic Iraqis for building democracy. Chavez makes the communist case, as it has always been made: "They say they want to impose a democratic model. But that's their democratic model. It's the false democracy of elites.... What type of democracy do you impose with marines and bombs?"
Chavez says to the Third World: "And you, my brother - he [Bush] looks at your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist. Evo Morales, the worthy president of Bolivia, looks like an extremist to him. The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up. I have a feeling, dear world dictator, that you are going to live the rest of your days as a nightmare because the rest of us are standing up, all those who are rising up against American imperialism, who are shouting for equality, for respect, for the sovereignty of nations."
The color of Morales is not the color of his skin, however. It is the color red. It is militant communism that now unites with militant Islam. Extremists and terrorists flock to the new banner. Meanwhile, the American people don't seem to notice. They cannot recognize the old communist lies as they percolate through the nation's school system and the world.
