Appeasement Never Creates “Peace in Our Time”

Europe in the 1930s was the place to be if one enjoyed action and political intrigue. With the end of World War I fresh in the minds of leaders like Britain’s Neville Chamberlain, thoughts of a second world war were unimaginable. Thus Chamberlain spearheaded a policy of appeasement even as Adolf Hitler began his march across Europe.

Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement dictated that if Western Europe just gave Hitler Poland and a couple of other Eastern European countries, he would be satisfied enough to go home and play nicely. Obviously, that strategy only encouraged Hitler to be ever more aggressive. It also encouraged Italy and Japan to pursue their own aggressive agendas as well.

The similarities between 1930s Europe and 21st century America are startlingly similar. But there’s one big difference: Western Europe’s enemies were external (Germany and Italy) while America’s enemies are internal (liberals and progressives).

The latest front in our modern warfare is the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for education. The fact that you’re reading this blog suggests you’re already up to speed on most of the news surrounding the CCSS, so there’s no need to regurgitate the facts. But in light of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) finally coming out against the Common Core, it’s time to take this discussion to the next level.

For the record, let me say that I have been a staunch supporter of HSLDA since we began educating our children more than 20 years ago. I wholeheartedly believe in the values and goals of the organization, and I wish them all the success in the world as they continue to defend homeschoolers. But their position regarding the CCSS is one that deserves a bit of scrutiny given the fact that so many other organizations share similar positions.

Enemies or Misguided Friends?

HSLDA founder Michael Farris recently sent an e-mail to his organization’s members outlining a discussion he had with CCSS leader David Coleman. At the end of the letter he referenced a new section of the HSLDA website devoted to the Common Core. The page outlines HSLDA’s official position and encourages homeschoolers to get involved in trying to stop the CCSS from moving forward.

All that is good as far as it goes. But I would submit to you it does not go far enough. I linked Farris’ letter in the paragraph above in the hopes that you would follow the link and read what he had to say. If you haven’t yet done so, do it right now before you go any further here. You won’t understand the rest of my comments until you know what Mr. Farris wrote.

In his letter, Farris spent more time talking about the cordial conversation he had with Mr. Coleman than ever really addressing the core differences between their positions. Not only that, he spoke of Coleman as though he were a close personal friend. My question is this: does Michael Farris consider David Coleman a friend and/or an ally in education?

I ask the question because the conservative leadership all across the United States, be it organizations like HSLDA and the Heritage Foundation or individuals like Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Paul Ryan, are treating liberals and progressives as though they are friends and colleagues fighting for the same goals.

Newsflash: they’re not.

It has already been demonstrated by numerous sources that the CCSS is bad news for America on many different levels. For example:

• it will eventually surrender education to federal control
• it promotes progressive ideology within the education system
• it will produce citizens unable to think and act for themselves
• it will rob homeschoolers of the right to educate their children as they see fit

As far as I’m concerned, all of the goals of the Common Core go against everything this country was founded on. The CCSS, if it succeeds, will radically transform not only the education system but the entire mindset of America. Gone will be the days of liberty, freedom and individualism to be replaced by a society wholly dependent upon the state.

That’s not the America envisioned by our founding fathers. It is the America of Barack Obama, Benjamin Jealous, and Saul Alinsky; an America that must be brought down to the level of socialist Europe in order to be “fair.”

Know Your Enemy

The point in mentioning all of this goes back to the policy of appeasement I mentioned at the start of this blog. During the early days of Hitler’s campaign of domination most of Europe refused to take a stand against him because they were war weary. They chose to believe that appeasement would bring “peace in our time” as Neville Chamberlain so eloquently stated. They did not view Hitler as an enemy, he was merely an inconvenience that threatened to disrupt the peace once again.

Similarly, the conservative leadership in America does not view its progressive and liberal counterparts as the enemy. Instead, progressives and liberals are viewed as a mere inconvenience preventing us from winning a couple political victories here and there.

Let me ask a question: If Al Qaeda or the Taliban were the masterminds behind the CCSS, would our conservative leadership have gone out of their way to have a cordial relationship with the leaders of either of those radical Muslim movements? If Al Qaeda or the Taliban had brought armed soldiers into the United States to take over the American school system, would our conservative leadership be speaking glowingly about the polite conversations they’ve had with our nation’s enemies?

I would hope not. If they did, they would be worthy of treatment as turncoats and traitors. But that begs the question of why we are treating progressives and liberals as friends when their agenda is purposely and specifically designed to destroy America.

They may not be using guns and bombs, but they are accomplishing the same goals. They may not be sending suicide bombers to blow up cafés and movie theaters, but their efforts are just as destructive. If America is to survive, we must identify our enemies as such and do everything we can to defeat them.

The reason progressivism and liberalism is flourishing in America with very little resistance is because we conservatives refuse to treat our enemies as enemies. Instead we prefer to treat them as simply misguided individuals who have good intentions. That’s not good enough.

We are at war for the future of our country. My friend, there’s only one way to win the war and that is to throw everything you can at the enemy with the sole purpose of destroying him. That’s how both world wars were won. And despite the fact that Germany and Japan were reduced to rubble, that’s the only way victory can be secured.

Our Enemies Know How to Win

Perhaps you think I am a bit extreme and not worthy of further consideration. That’s fine. But let me wrap this up by giving you one more thing to think about: our enemies already know how to win.

The liberals and progressives behind the CCSS, the gay-rights movement, the immigration movement, and any of the other social causes you can think of are throwing everything they’ve got at American society knowing full well that the strategy of overwhelming force works.

Their goal is to completely overwhelm the American culture on so many fronts that we simply give up and let them have their way. Guess what? It’s working. Every day fewer conservative leaders are willing to stand up and fight for what’s right — unwilling to see to the destruction of the nation’s enemies. Every day there are fewer Americans willing to view this as a war, preferring instead to assume it’s just a fad that will pass.

They are winning, we are losing. They know their enemy and are out to destroy him. We refuse to identify our enemy and, instead, believe Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement will work. It won’t work. It has never worked in the history of the world.

And that’s the ugly truth.