It Is A Hard Thing For Intellectuals

Even In Its Third Century, America Is Still The Most Meritocratic Nation In The World.

Often, The Pretexts For Starting A War Are Not Real Shortages Of Land, Food Or Fuel, But Rather Perceptions - Like Fear, Honor And Perceived Self-interest.

The Problem With Deterrence - Apparently Sometimes Forgotten By Our Former Presidents - Is That It Is Not Static, But A Creature Of The Moment, Captive To Impression, And Nursed On Action, Not Talk. It Must Be Maintained Hourly And Can Erode Or Be Lost With A Single Act Of Failed Nerve, Despite All The Braggadocio Of Threatened Measures. And, Once Gone, The Remedies Needed For Its Restoration Are Always More Expensive, Deadly - And Controversial - Than Would Have Been Its Simple Maintenance.

It Is Rather The Nature Of America - Our Freewheeling, Outspoken, Prosperous, Liberty-loving Citizens Extend Equality To Women, Homosexuals, Minorities, And Almost Anyone Who Comes To Our Shores, And Thereby Create Desire And With It Shame For That Desire. Indeed, It Is Worse Still Than That: Precisely Because We Worry Publicly That We Are Insensitive, Our Enemies Scoff Privately That We In Fact Are Too Sensitive - What We Think Is Liberality And Magnanimity They See As License And Decadence. If We Don't Have Confidence In Who We Are, Why Should They?

Unhappy Voters Thought The Anemic Economy, Obamacare, The Collapse Of U.s. Foreign Policy, The Scandals In Government, And The Incompetent Handling Of Everything From The Islamic State To Ebola Were The Only Real Issues. Democrats'€™ Refusal To Acknowledge Them Did Not Make These Failures Go Away.