The Contest in America

I read this today. I thought it was amazing that this was written over 100 years ago. It sounds like something that could have been written today.

In his essay “The Contest In America,” 19th-century libertarian philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill wrote, “[W]ar... is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse.”

Mill added, “A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other.”

One more reason to keep our military strong.

The news out of England is rather disturbing. Read this story about the Royal Navy.

This is especially disturbing when Russia is ramping up its Navy. That story is here.

Thanks to Hot Air for this story.