LtGen Victor (Brute) Krulak’s passing means the loss of yet another legend, a giant of his time who, like Col Ripley and General Barrow, grew in stature as his deeds were viewed in the context of our time as well as his.  In a December 1969 speech, General Krulak asked the below question, with the accompanying remarks which represent a portion of his speech.  .  We would do well to ask this question again, and consider his observations four decades later.

What in the hell happened to the United States of America?

Something is certainly wrong. We’re a nation with resources beyond measure and a form of government that has brought us to historical eminence. But we’re a nation in trouble. What has happened to the United States of America? We see thousands of citizens whose stock in trades is disunity and lawlessness, thousands more who preach hatred for our governmental system and clamor for free speech for themselves, and thousands who insist that their country owes them a living.

What has happened to our country? Clergymen who use the pulpit to promote political change when they ought to be addressing themselves to promoting reverence for our Lord.

Magistrates who so dedicate themselves to protecting the rights of accused individuals that they undermine the rights of law-abiding citizens or of the community or of the nation.

What has become of the United States of America?

Men who cry out for black power or white power or brown power, with never a word about truth power or the power of a free nation. Elementary school teachers obsessed with sex education but are quite willing to send on youngsters who don’t know the difference between the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution or the Bill of Rights and who don’t care.

College professors who boast openly about how they are revolutionaries, citizens who can somehow accept complacently the desecration of our flag on a warship in the sea of Japan, on a fishing boat off the Peruvian coast; cynics who think it’s out of fashion to be proud of their country or to fight for it or to sacrifice for it.

Young people who are contemptuous of this Academy and all institutions like it, who demand that ROTC be abolished, that there be no military-related research on a campus, that military recruiting in universities be ended, and who encourage desertion from our Armed Forces.

National Legislators, professors, and students who condemn our forces fighting for their lives for fighting too hard; who insist that the route to greatness is somehow to be found in surrender; who are prepared to risk our Nation’s destiny on the Utopian gamble that by weakening ourselves, we can somehow enhance the likelihood of peace around the world.

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Posted by UltimaRatioReg in Uncategorized

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• AQOne

  Are you seriously comparing today with 1969?

  Disunity and lawlessness? Hatred for our governmental system? Today we don’t have protesters by the hundreds of thousands fighting unjust war. We have people who accept our government spying on us without warrants and ignore torture that directly threatens our service members treatment if captured.

  Clergymen still use the pulpit to promote political change though it is now notably right wing.

  Magistrates who so dedicate themselves to protecting the rights of accused individuals that they undermine the rights of law-abiding citizens? Courts now trample the rights of the Fourth Amendment, allow holding US citizens without charge indefinitely, and champion the corporation and Government over the individual.

  Youngsters who don’t know the difference between the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution or the Bill of Rights and who don’t care? They still don’t know about them because they have to study for the trivia test mandated by No Child Left Behind and they think the only part of the Bill of Rights that is important is the Second Amendment (though they can’t articulate why).

  Cynics who think it’s out of fashion to be proud of their country or to fight for it or to sacrifice for it? How about people who believe that the present wars are needlessly grinding down our military and preventing them from being available for operations around the world?

  Our people are not bearing the strains of our wars at all. At best they seem to be happy with their faded “Support Our Troops” magnets on their cars while a tiny fraction of our populace live and die in places most of our people can’t find on a map (it’s not on the test).

  Is today like 1969? Not at all. Back then people protested because it was their butt that was at risk and they didn’t want to die in a rice paddy in Vietnam. Today people don’t care because (like Dick Cheney) they have “other things to do” besides be in the military.

• Byron

  Still a little pissed off at Bushhitler, huh?

• RickWilmes

  In essence, what is wrong with America, is altruism-the ethics of self-sacrifice. America was founded on the idea that each individual has a right to his life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The ethics of altruism denies this fact. Instead, altruism says that man must be a self-less servant for others or serve a cause higher than oneself. Instead of asking what is wrong with America one should ask, why must one sacrifice his life or live for others? Why is that good and what happened to the idea that man has a right to his own life, liberty and pursuit of happiness as opposed to sacrificing it for others?

• jwithington

  My Chinese language instructor made her son learn to play violin. His instructor in China charged a lot and cared little for her son’s development. When she and her son immigrated to the United States, she was surprised to find an elderly couple offer lessons at a discount rate. They attended his recitals and fostered his passion for music. They cared for him.

  He is now attending an American university on scholarship for music. How? Because an elderly couple sacrificed time and energy, for little compensation, to welcome a new member of the community.

  My instructor and her son are both naturalized citizens now. Altruism is the glue which builds the bond between members of the community.