Patriotic goo

The estimable Fred Reed writes a spiky post on the blood-and-iron set in American public life.

I have just received the November issue of the magazine of the American Legion, in which I discover an article by one Ralph Peters, reminding me of why, having joined the Legion on impulse, I have never gone to the Post. The piece is entitled “Twelve Myths of 21st Century War.” A better title might be, “A Pedestrian Compendium of Agonizingly Cliched Jingoism.” (I guess he didn’t think of calling it that.) Anyway, Ralph believes that Americans have become too comfortable, have lost their taste for war, no longer want to pay the butcher’s bill. Ralph is for war. Not much for history, though.

This whole lovely thing is here. One might reasonably disagree with his judgment on the exigency of the Civil War, but the rest is pretty much indisputable. I hope that anyone inclined to drool mindlessly the customary inanities will read it and give it at least a minute's thought.