Don’t we ever learn from history?

Have we forgotten that aggressive dictators are never satisfied when you try to appease them?  That it only encourages them to seek more conquests?

Think Hitler. Think Stalin. Surely we can agree they were bad guys. Do you remember how well appeasing them worked out?

Now let’s think about Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping – two tyrants responsible for the violent deaths of more people than we will ever know.  Cut from the same cloth as Hitler and Stalin.

Putin’s Russia and Xi’s Communist China are the two greatest threats to liberty in the world today. And both countries are on the prowl.

Putin invaded Crimea in 2014, and is currently ravaging eastern Ukraine. He hopes his bromance with President Trump will persuade us to withdraw our support from President Zelensky so he can finish his dirty work without our interference.

President Xi broke the treaty guaranteeing 50 years of autonomy to Hong Kong in 2020. Now he has openly declared his intention to invade Taiwan by 2027, and he will be encouraged if he sees us forsake Ukraine.  The citizens of Taiwan have lived in a peaceful democracy for decades. Will we abandon them to communism?

And if we are so self-centered that we just don’t care about the liberty of Taiwan’s 23 million people, then ponder the consequences of China gaining control of the 50 percent of the world’s semiconductors that Taiwan produces.

We live in a dangerous world. Democracies are a minority. Sometimes we forget that most of this planet is controlled by thugs and dictators.

We need allies. We need friendly nations that share our democratic values and will work with us to strengthen the cause of freedom.

WHAT SIGNALS ARE WE SENDING?

We need to assure the people of the Free World that we have their back. But why should our allies trust us, or our enemies fear us, when we are so wobbly in our commitment to liberty?

With our disastrous retreat from Afghanistan in 2021, and now our shameful distancing from Ukraine, we are sending all the wrong signals to the bad guys in the world. Our friends are losing faith in us, and our foes are sensing an opportunity for mischief.

As former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wisely observed: “Weakness is provocative.”

President Xi of China took advantage of the world’s indifference during his takeover of Hong Kong. He is now taking note of America’s new appeasement policy towards Putin. He will surely be emboldened in his plans to invade Taiwan by Trump’s reckless treatment of Ukraine.

All of these things matter. Evil men with evil plans look for any opportunity, any sign of weakness, to take advantage of any situation that could further their ambitions.

When America, and the rest of the Free World, retreats from our moral obligations to help sustain liberty for others, we weaken our own security. 

Can we not see that liberty must grow to survive?  Are we content to let tyrants pick off weaker countries, one by one, until they have grown so strong and so aggressive that we are in grave danger ourselves?

The bear may leave you alone while he eats your neighbor, but soon he will be hungry again. Eventually you will run out of neighbors. Then that bigger, stronger, hungrier bear will start chomping on you.

RUSSIA’S APPETITE KEEPS GROWING

When Russia invaded Crimea (then a peninsula in southern Ukraine) in 2014, it was a quick easy victory for Putin, and Russia suffered little pushback from the West. Encouraged by this, Putin made plans to invade the rest of Ukraine.

So here we are.

If Putin succeeds in conquering Ukraine, what is next? Lithuania, Moldova, Poland? Anyone living in Eastern Europe must be feeling anxious these days about Russian intentions.

Ukraine is fighting our battle. Ukraine is fighting for itself, no doubt, but by holding back Russia’s invasion it is defending all of Europe, and ultimately us. Its self-interest is aligned with ours.

President Zelensky and the 38 million citizens of Ukraine have struggled against tremendous odds because they know their existence is at stake. They know what hell it is to live under Soviet domination. They would rather die fighting than live as Russian serfs.

Are we Americans going to turn our backs on them now?  Have we totally lost our moral compass?

WE CAN PAY NOW OR PAY MORE LATER

Nobody is asking for American troops.  But Ukraine does need weapons and ammo.  We should be arming these brave freedom fighters to the teeth and thanking them for their sacrifice.

We need to stop playing games and give Ukraine the support it needs. It is shameful to see a U.S. foreign policy that rewards Russia for its aggression and punishes Ukraine for the crime of being invaded.

It is in our own best interest to support Ukraine, Taiwan, and any other nation threatened by aggressive tyrants. 

In 1961, President Kennedy inspired the Free World with these words in his inaugural address:

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”

That is the kind of moral high ground America once claimed. That is the kind of support our beleaguered allies need in this hour.  That is a policy that Americans should proudly support.

But sadly, we are shrinking back from our leadership role. Now we mistreat our friends and appease our enemies.

We have grown complacent because we have been so rich for so long. We seem content to kick back and pretend the rest of the world doesn’t matter as long as we’re doing okay over here.

I fear we have lost the political will to sacrifice for the cause of freedom.

The world is a better, safer place when American strength upholds liberty and human rights. For all of our faults, we are still the best house in a really bad neighborhood.

(Trust me; you don’t want to live in a world where China is top dog. Just ask the folks in Hong Kong, or the Uyghurs in President Xi’s re-education camps.)

How can we look at Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and think it is okay to let him win? How can we look at that war and not see an evil invader and a tragic victim?

How can the President of the United States consider a barbarian like Putin to be someone he trusts?

If we continue to appease tyranny while liberty is devoured, bite by bite, eventually the bear will be coming for our children. And by then they will be fighting all alone.