Our next president will be inaugurated at a pivotal time in America's timeline. That person, if they have the desire, will and savvy, can avert the next cold war before it begins by learning from the past. America has vaults full of knowledge and background on what it needs to do, but it will be worthless in the wrong hands.
Unlike the last cold war America will be facing two old enemies, Russia and China, that also have learned from their failures, are far richer than before and are still filled with hatred for us, The United States of America.
Putin's New Cold War
Russia may call the shots in its acrimonious relationship with NATO, but the real economic power still lies with the West. "The free market cannot be decoupled from the free society," Mr. Lucas states. As long as Europe and America do not abandon the small, weak states in Russia's sphere of influence, they can prevent the new Cold War from spiralling out of control.
The Cold War was all about beating the Soviet Union at its own game, while keeping a clear sense of the ideological and moral gulf that separated the two systems. The Lucas thesis is in essence a plea for "a renewal of both that moral competition and moral distance."
In the War on Terror, the West's greatest enemy is itself, as in the Cold War. "Until we make it clear that we believe in our own values," Mr. Lucas argues, "we cannot defend ourselves against the subversion and corruption that are leaking into our citadels of economic and political power."
That's the point: we must believe in our own values. If we who have lived by this Judaeo-Christian moral code — including freedom, democracy, and the rule of law — do not proclaim it and fight to preserve it, why should the Russians, who have lived under one form of despotism or another since time immemorial, suddenly adopt it as their own?
Whether it is defending itself against Islamofascism or Putinism, the Atlantic alliance must believe in its own mission before it can win the war of ideas.
Could an Obama who will not salute a United States flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance possibly believe in our values or will the Afro-centric teachings of his church and advisors disallow that? Is it remotely possible that a Hillary Clinton could fill her heart with the love and resolve to defend America at all costs? No to both. Obama won't because of who he is and who we are. Hillary refuses to love anything more than herself.
Adding Islamofascism into the mix of a renewed cold war with puny Putin and whoever hasn't died lately in Beijing is a frightening thought, especially when we the voters are trying to figure out who is the pick of the litter in this presidential campaign.
Obama or Hillary leading with Pelosi and Reid gives me the chills and for you that are pontificating about your dislike of the current Republican Party better get the burr out of your panties and start thinking like adults again.
