Leadership, Crime & War

Too often, the public leader who speaks of terrible things and the deep sacrifices a country needs to respond to them, is cast aside by a nation loathe to confront the often brutal nature of reality.

In this context, the support of the Catholic Church for the equally brutal responses to crime and war—capital punishment and just war—are often resisted by many, even in the Church, who are not willing to even acknowledge, let alone confront the terrible nature of evil.

Fortunately, there often arises in these times, leaders who are willing to raise their voices and continue to speak even when ridiculed.

England was fortunate to have such a leader in Winston Churchill many years ago, as we are fortunate to have such a leader as Richard Cheney today, as this report from the Center for Security Policy notes.

An excerpt.

“[Churchill’s] assessment of the growing dangers posed to Britain and the Free World was not just unwelcome among Brits who wanted no more death and destruction after the horrific bloodletting of the so-called “War to End All Wars.” He was reviled and treated as a political pariah for taking to the floor of Parliament again and again to warn that another conflagration was coming. His enemies belittled him; he largely lived in self-imposed internal exile; and his public friends were few.

“Yet, Churchill’s role in keeping the flame of freedom burning during those “wilderness years” was arguably as important as his subsequent service to King and country. He challenged the pollyannish British intelligence assessments of the Nazi rearmament program and goaded Her Majesty’s Government into beginning to correct its woeful under-investment in military procurement.

“Churchill took it upon himself, despite his unpopularity, to travel the country and educate Britons, often in small groups, about the mounting dangers in Europe and around the world that their leaders refused to see – or discuss. In so doing, he helped prepare the country for the hardships ahead and the sacrifices that would be required to meet them….

“Today, there is a Churchill in our midst. Like the original “Last Lion,” he is loathed and slandered by his critics. His utterances about the present and growing threats and his past service to his country are savaged by the national leadership, even as they try to dismiss him as “discredited” (as Senator Carl Levin put it on Sunday) or a liability for his party (as innumerable political operatives and pundits insist).

“Our Churchill’s name is Dick Cheney.

“The Churchillian qualities of our former Vice President were much in evidence last Wednesday night when he received the Center for Security Policy’s Keeper of the Flame award. Despite his characteristic soft-spoken delivery, Mr. Cheney rendered a withering indictment of the Obama administration’s security policies.”