Just as a social experiment, let us take a look at the school yard. When I was a kid the school yard was a simple place, where if a dispute arose, which was quite often, we would meet behind the cafeteria after school, duke it out, and then be done with it. Many times, the person we fought today would be our best friend for years afterwards. Now, the social experiment of the last few decades comes into play. Today we have zero tolerance on that school yard. We don’t let kids simply “duke it out,” opting instead for more ethereal conflict resolution methods. We are now convinced that school is a place of peace among the students, where linking arms and singing “Kum Ba Yah” after settling our disputes from a mediation, that we hope solves all the problems. This sounds good, but we also now have kids losing it, plotting, and then going to that school yard, only to shoot each other and any innocent bystanders. I can recall that almost universally we carried a pocket knife, but not once did we ever consider using it on each other. Now we have to worry about them stabbing each other with a pencil, or worse.
Perhaps I’m old fashioned, but this has nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism, instead it is all about human nature. Humans fight, we have road rage, we bristle at every affront, both real and perceived, and yet we expect nations to be any different. By gutting the military, we’re taking the pocket knife away and adopting “zero tolerance.” Just like the school yard, that will only work if the other guy will not be aggressive and also subscribes to the “Kum Ba Yah” theory of diplomacy. While we’re at it, I’ve got some ocean front property in Kansas and a Bridge in Brooklyn I’d love to sell you. Better yet, ask someone in Ukraine how this works, since I’m pretty sure they weren’t “asking for it.” ~ Michael S. Pauley