An aggressive nation can be empowered far beyond its physical strength by a conclusion that its opponent does not have the will to fight. . . . a powerful nation may give up if its people come to think that a war is unjust, their nation’s position is morally untenable, or its goal unclear or simply not worth it. . . . [T]he examples in this book . . . show that the strongest power belonged to those who were, in fact, right, if those who were right knew it. This may be unfashionable to say today—in an intellectual climate that sunders fact and value, and understands moral claims as inherently contested matters of opinion—but it remains a demonstrable fact that the Spartan and Confederate slave systems were morally debased and that the freedom upheld by the Thebans and the Union was good. The political autonomy upheld by the Greeks, as well as the political relationships between Rome and its Italian allies, was superior to the alternatives presented by Persia and Carthage. Certainly, the war between America and Japan in 1945 was not fought over morally equivalent options—not if peace and prosperity for millions of people are valued. . . . The British and the Americans—like the Greeks—became truly unbeatable when they grasped how right they really were. —John David Lewis
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 16:03:34 +0000
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