On Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese pilots attacked an American naval base at Pearl Harbor. With more than 300 planes in combat, the Imperial Japanese military killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 of them. It was discovered that the motive of the attacks was to prevent Americans from entering World War II, where some of the most notorious statist regimes in history made their assault on the free world. Japanese intent was to scare the United States away from war. They failed.
From the ashes of Pearl Harbor emerged what we know today as the "Greatest Generation." Responding to the call of duty, able-bodied Americans took up arms against enemies of freedom. No one questioned the need to fight the Nazis in Germany or the imperialists in Japan. The mere fact that American blood was shed was enough to spur action. After Japanese surrender, the U.S. stood tall as one of only a few superpowers in the world – a beacon of freedom to those who shared our ideas of self-reliance and free trade. Our nation's involvement in the war was over in just four years.
On Sept. 11, 2001, a much more privileged generation was shocked when a handful of Islamist militants turned commercial airliners into missiles, striking a field in Pennsylvania, the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York City. As in 1941, the government approved a military response, feeling the need to rid the world of an amorphous concept: terror. Volunteer forces were sent to defeat those taking credit for nearly 3,000 lives lost that day. As the battles dragged on, government leaders in the Bush administration and Congress held to the idea that it was America's responsibility as the only remaining superpower to build up failed states around the world. Ten years later, military-sponsored nation-building continues, taking more American lives in the process.
As we take the due time needed to remember and honor fallen victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, we should also take time to learn lessons from the past. Why is it that it took the "greatest generation" only four years to defeat both the Nazis and the Japanese Empire, while our politicians today still struggle for a concrete solution to the wars in the Middle East? Why is it that a decade after World War II, Americans witnessed record-breaking economic expansion, while 9.1 percent unemployment today persists after a combination of failed market interventions? Why is it that the need to protect our borders is even a topic of debate?
The answer is a change in our nation's politics. Some might say big government policies helped the country stay afloat in the midst of depression. True enough — President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Democrats were as big government as they come here. Despite being economically destructive, the Roosevelt administration was highly successful in ensuring national security. America and her allies neutralized the rise of totalitarianism during the World War II.
There was a certain spirit about the greatest generation that we need to see today. We need to restore our sense of self-reliance and pride.