Learning the Wrong Lessons

For John, BLUF:  A little distrust is a good thing.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Have We Really Forgotten?

From Victory Girls, by Ms Amanda Green, 26 November 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

Not long ago, I came across an op-ed piece by Michael Gerson.  The name sounded familiar, and not necessarily in a good way, but I couldn’t place it.  But the title of the piece caught my eye:  Has the West already forgotten the lessons of World War II? After all, I’d been asking variations of that question for some time.  Except my question wasn’t always limited to the lessons of World War II.  So, hoping for a well-researched and even-handed article, I started reading.  How quickly expectations turned to disappointment and frustration. Gerson, like so many others, wants to do all he can to make President Trump the Hitler of our day.

Many Americans seem to have forgotten that a foreign policy of America First allowed international malignancies to grow that made war inevitable and resulted in the deaths of tens of millions.”

There are several things Gerson fails to note with regard to America First.  The phrase was first used by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 when he was running for re-election. Wilson, a DEMOCRAT, pledged to keep the United States neutral during World War I.  Hmmm, funny that Gerson didn’t mention that little detail.

Ah, President Woodrow Wilson.  In the 1940s and 50s he was taught in school as a hero.  Now he is a bit of an embarrassment.  And a pre-runner of President Trump.

There are diplomatic and foreign policy lessons to be learned from WWII, the runup to it and the ensuing post war arrangements.  However, many of those being served up by Progressives, even Progressive Scholars, are wrong.  We have to be our own researchers.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff