Greatness is fleeting

Having traveled around Europe, Asia and the Middle East one thing I’ve learned, among many others, is that great civilizations do not necessarily remain great. In Egypt we learned of the rise and fall of a great civilization. For the foreseeable future, Egypt’s best days are behind them.

I visited Rome and saw the remains of the great Roman Empire. Today they are Italians struggling to keep a stable government in place for a couple years and are wracked by crippling unannounced nationwide strikes; the response to the strikes being a collective shoulder shrug with a trite, “This is Italy. What do you expect?”

I visited Russia and learned of a great nation set to ruin first by Tsarist and then by communist tyranny. The Soviets maintained power through 10 failed five year plans, and 5 failed 10 year plans with a ruthless military and secret police. The only reason anyone paid them any mind during the cold war was their nuclear arsenal.

I visited Istanbul and learned of the great Roman-Greco Empire that gave way to a great Ottoman empire that is but a bit of its former greatness. There is nothing in world history that says once a country or civilization reaches greatness that greatness must remain.

I think Americans by and large go through life expecting that American greatness will never be challenged in their lifetime or their children’s lifetimes. Well we’ve been challenged throughout our history and we’re being challenged now. Many American’s do not see the challenge. It’s hard to make a case that a Nation is struggling for its way life when that struggle involves only a couple hundred thousand citizens (Army & Marines) and less than 1% of that country’s GDP. But make no mistake our war on Islamo-Terror- Fascism is real and the stake could not be higher.

Next week Lex will reintroduce his theory of halves – Half the American people do not realize we’re at war. Half of those that realize we’re at war have no idea what will be required to win the war. Half of the people that know what is required, have no idea what’s at stake.