2/22/2005 07:54:00 AM|||Nathan Moore|||

As I mentioned in the prior post, the Civil War in the United States was the greatest test of a democracy in the history of the experiment. Over 620,000 died, in a country of 29 million people. The North was the size of present-day Iraq. If the same caliber of war were to occur today in our country, the total dead would be nearly 5.6 million. The effect on society, North and South (though more South, of course)was immeasurable.

And we got through it. It took time, and another movement, and more political will, but we got through it. Despite naysayers during the war, calling to "let the South go", saying that the cost wasn't worth it, unnerved political and moral leadership saw the nation through. It could be said that the American Civil War tested the fabric of its society more than any other single event in any other single society in the history of mankind. The Civil War generation, if it were alive today, would scoff and laugh at the Vietnam generation, still in full-force.

We can debate the merits of the Vietnam War. There is no debate, however, that the men who went to Vietnam and fought for their country should be honored unconditionally. I do not disagree with the logic of our involvement in Southeast Asia. The Domino Theory was viable, despite that many modern liberals like to pretend otherwise, and was especially so when viewed in historical context. It made sense, and was proven correct throughout the Cold War. The Vietnam War was not won by the North Vietnamese - it was lost by the United States through poor strategy and a desire to avoid an all-out Soviet/Chinese confrontation in the region. The United States has never lost a war it had the will to win.

Herein lies the difference between the Civil War generation and the Vietnam War generation. Despite greater hardships and a more destructive war, the concept of American exceptionalism survived the Civil War intact. Despite the complete decimation of a region, economy, and culture, the country marched on, expanding in land area and international influence. The Vietnam generation, however, has had their worldview poisoned by a far lesser experience. A less costly war, halfway around the world, fought in the greater context of the Cold War, was somehow lost on my parent's generation. The great "struggle" at home against the Vietnam War came to be characterized by a prolonged adolescence. The great struggle during the Civil War was characterized by domestic destruction, true societal upheaval, and bread lines. The people who now criticize our current foreign policy with a defeatist mindset are either of the Vietnam generation or were brainwashed in academia by those who were of it. You know them - the people who support the troops but not the mission, which is something they didn't do the first time.

Without an accurate frame of reference, you cannot critique with any worth. To view the world in the framework of 1968, one must be wearing historical blinders, unable to learn the lessons of the past and to perceive the reality of the present. The Vietnam generation, or at least the vocal part of them who now wish to negatively influence policy, are weak. They have learned through their life experience that there is nothing worth fighting for, all roads lead to failure, and all military actions are a rehash of Vietnam, without qualification. The Civil War generation, if it were alive today, could show nothing but contempt for such thinking.

Despite their predictable protestations to the contrary, and if the historical blinders allowed it, the defeatists of the Vietnam generation would most-admire two presidents - James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce. Two men plagued forever by history for not seeing clearly what was in front of them, and who were too weak to act decisively. The Civil War generation would not be proud.

|||110908277283715265|||The Civil War Generation