Chrenkoff has a wonderful interview with Victor Davis Hanson about the war on terror, Europe and politics in general. You must go read the entire thing. Then go buy Mr. Hanson’s books and be further amazed by how insightful this guy is.

Referring to the Europeans he says (emphasis mine):

So we are on to them at last; here is the rule regarding these strange folk who peddle weapons to communist China, whitewash Hizbollah, fund Hamas, and looted Iraq: the degree to which Europe is amoral by either its commission or negligence is directly proportional to the degree we see in its media and state spokesmen moral posturing and invective against the United States.

So… we sit tight, praise them, and keep our powder dry, looking to see the fallow out from Islamicism on their shores, and whether they curb anti-Semitism, get their birthrates up, rearm and make a real alliance, avoid antagonizing a surrounded Russia, and buy off an Iran or crazy former Soviet Republic. We cannot do much in all that and so should expect very little from them and get ready for some pretty crazy things coming out of Europe in the next few years. NATO as we know it is dead, and we have no idea what will follow…so we praise it to the skies.

Wonderful! I love it when someone sees through this “shared values” crap and calls out the Europeans.

He then goes on to talk about immigrants to the U.S.:

In my case, I’ve met in America, mostly on campuses and among students, one too many Europeans, Chinese, Indians, Mexicans, Arabs, or Koreans who after becoming a naturalized US citizen or a legal resident alien, begin praising the country they under no circumstance wish to return to while damning the country that they most certainly will not leave under any circumstance. I am sure the psychotherapists have various names and classifications for this sick syndrome; but abstract identification of it does not make it any easier to stomach in the here and now.

Again, he hits the nail on the head. That is one of my biggest pet peeves: people who are openly hostile to America. If you hate it so much, why don’t you leave? But no, they sit in their ivory towers, protected by “academic freedom”, and damn the U.S. to hell. They condemn our military, they condemn our justice system, they condemn our patriotism and I am sure you can add your own experience here. But what about where they came from? Oh that place is wonderful, they do everything right over there. I am ashamed of the U.S. The U.S. is a greater threat to the world than terrorists…really? Well, why not go back? What’s that you say? No thank you? Why is that? Maybe, just maybe, because in America you are not oppressively taxed, you can actually become wealthy, you are not over regulated, you are not hemmed in by archaic labor unions and labor laws, you have freedom of speech and of religion, the police (though you condemn them) keep you safe in your suburban neighborhood, our military (again, though you condemn them) keeps you safe from the evil that stalks this planet, and on and on and on.

Look, America is not perfect. But show me a better place to live in this world. Mistakes and all, people still risk their lives to reach our great shores. If you can not stand this place as much as you claim, then fine, give up your job and home in the suburbs, your freedom of speech and religion and everything else that makes this country so great and head home.

Mr. Hanson then gives a wonderful piece of advice to all Americans. Sometimes we forget that we are just another nation in history. There have been many before us and there will be others after us:

Thucydides reminds us that, contrary to modern behavioralists, human nature is constant and thus predictable, and thus as well history is useful and not like 19th-century biology that is rendered obsolete by a radically changing technology that allows the discovery of the cell or atom. And he warns us that no people, however wealthy and free, get a pass from history, that they don’t have to struggle daily to ensure that they do not lose what was given to them.

There are people and countries out there that dream every night about the destruction of the U.S. You must believe me on that point. We must struggle to maintain our way of life, if we do not fight the good fight, we will lose and end up on the ash heap of history just like so many other great countries. This fight is not always military in nature, but more often a battle of ideas and ideals.

Call me a flag waving nut. I am one. I wave the flag proudly. I am proud of our past and proud of our future. Yes some terrible things have happened in our past and terrible things will happen in the future, but show me another country that is perfect. Look around, if you see another country that is more inline with your ideals of humanity, then you are free to pick up and move. Hell, I won’t even hold a grudge. I would rather you bad mouth the U.S. from another country than for you to stay here and use the freedoms, paid for in blood, to bad mouth this great country. It is your choice.

Hat tip to Beldarblog.

UPDATE: I am not saying those that have a differing opinion from my own are not welcome here. Not at all. A free society demands open and frank dialog about issues and problems that face this country. I have no problem with that; I do have a problem, however, when you compare my president to Hitler or our military to Nazi storm troopers. That is not dialog; those are lies, damnable lies.