Slow to See

Submitted by Bill Storey (United States), Feb 7, 2006 at 11:12

The West has always been slow to see the threats to its existence. We were slow to stem the tide of German imperialism in WWI, slow to see the real nature of the Nazi threat, slow to see the danger of Japanese imperialism, and even complicit in furthering the aims of Soviet communism (Alger Hiss, etc.).

Today, because of political correctness and our "addiction" to oil, we are slow to see the real threat posed by Islamists, and perhaps by Islam itself. We live in a time, as Yeats noted, when "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity."

How do we combat Islamic aggression when a petroleum Sword of Damacles hangs over our heads? If we had seen this coming, as we should have, we would have opened Alaska (ANWR) for drilling, opened the Gulf of Mexico and California coasts for drilling, moved to exploit oil shale, built nuclear power plants, and done whatever else was needed to become energy independent.

Because of the left's opposition to all these things, we cower in fear of Islamic extortion, our fear that the oil spigot will be turned off. We had better wake up soon.

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