One of my favorite quotes is the coward Falstaff cringing to Prince Hal before the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. I would ‘twere bedtime, Hal, and all well. If you are a conservative or dissident rightist -- or any kind of person, left or right -- I defy you to say that you never wish for the cold civil war to be over, and all well. But the fact is that almost nothing in this world gets decided peacefully by an open and frank discussion of the issues. Reality may be objective, but our theories about reality are faith, and often enough we want to decide questions of faith by force. Put it this way. Baby-boomers like me like to sneer at the folly of politicians in the 1930s that failed to stop Hitler until it was too late. What a bunch of losers! But ask yourself: what would it have taken for the Baldwins and the Chamberlains and the Daladiers to leave go of their comfortable theories of disarmament treaties and collective security before it was too late? Now...(Read Full Article)