So Americans should be thankful they have one of the last functioning nation-states. Europeans, because they’ve been so inept at exercising it, no longer believe in national sovereignty, whereas it would never occur to Americans not to. This profoundly different attitude to the nation-state underpins, in turn, Euro-American attitudes to transnational institutions such as the United Nations.
But on this Thanksgiving the rest of the world ought to give thanks to American national sovereignty, too. When something terrible and destructive happens ”“ a tsunami hits Indonesia, an earthquake devastates Pakistan ”“ the United States can project itself anywhere on the planet within hours and start saving lives, setting up hospitals and restoring the water supply.
Aside from Britain and France, the Europeans cannot project power in any meaningful way anywhere. When they sign on to an enterprise they claim to believe in ”“ shoring up Afghanistan’s fledgling post-Taliban democracy ”“ most of them send token forces under constrained rules of engagement that prevent them doing anything more than manning the photocopier back at the base.
If America were to follow the Europeans and maintain only shriveled attenuated residual military capacity, the world would very quickly be nastier and bloodier, and far more unstable. It’s not just Americans and Iraqis and Afghans who owe a debt of thanks to the U.S. soldier but all the Europeans grown plump and prosperous in a globalized economy guaranteed by the most benign hegemon in history.
That said, Thanksgiving isn’t about the big geopolitical picture, but about the blessings closer to home….
Last week, the state of Oklahoma celebrated its centennial, accompanied by rousing performances of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s eponymous anthem:
“We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!”
Which isn’t a bad theme song for the first Thanksgiving, either.
Three hundred and 86 years ago, the Pilgrims thanked God because there was a place for them in this land, and it was indeed grand. The land is grander today, and that, too, is remarkable: France has lurched from Second Empires to Fifth Republics struggling to devise a lasting constitutional settlement for the same smallish chunk of real estate, but the principles that united a baker’s dozen of East Coast colonies were resilient enough to expand across a continent and halfway around the globe to Hawaii.
Americans should, as always, be thankful this Thanksgiving, but they should also understand just how rare in human history their blessings are.
God Bless America! Mark Steyn is an old-fashioned style of Brit that are becoming rarer and rarer, sad to say. I was married to a Brit for 12 years and worked in England as a nurse. The elderly patients I cared for, the “Greatest Generation” age group who had fought in WWII, THEY still had pride and rugged individualism. But they grew up before England became a nanny state. But the young folks, like my younger brother-in-laws, who know nothing but nanny state since birth, they are often whiny, wimpy woosies who expect the state to take care of all their needs. They have an innate sense of being “owed something.” I mean, my youngest BIL dropped out of school at 16 and went immediately on the dole! And why?? He was able bodied, of sound mind (most of the time) and lived at home. So he needed welfare . . . why? It’s such a shame to see a once proud nation turned into the sorry shape it is now. I just fear it may happen here, too. I hope not.
When they sign on to an enterprise they claim to believe in – shoring up Afghanistan’s fledgling post-Taliban democracy – most of them send token forces under constrained rules of engagement that prevent them doing anything more than manning the photocopier back at the base.
I beg all readers to realise how utterly offensive and demeaning of its author this is. To date, 84 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan, many of them in fierce combat. It dishonours their memory and their courage to be written about in this kind of way. Criticise Britain if you wish. But base it on facts, not on sour ranting.
‘He who would criticise others should first read accurately.’ Oh dear. I failed to read Mark Steyn correctly. I did not take in that he says, ‘Aside from Britain and France.’ Mea culpa. Ignore my err … ranting above.
Mark Steyn is not a Brit, but a Canadian, who lives in New Hampshire.