It has been said repeatedly that those who fail to learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat its mistakes, so here we are again. I remember the 1970s, the shameful ending of the Vietnam War, the loss of American credibility, the inflation, gas lines, and endless prognostications of environmental doom. If you haven’t noticed, it’s beginning to feel like familiar ground.
In 1972, the communist North Vietnamese launched a major conventional offensive, attempting to conquer our South Vietnamese ally by brute force using tanks, artillery, and hundreds of thousands of troops crossing the northern and western borders. It was harrowing at first but eventually the president unleashed American air power and the communist offensive was smashed, so much so that we might have decisively defeated them if our forces were not halted by our secretary of state’s desire to have a diplomatic solution. That isn’t my version but post-war comments made by communist generals mystified as to why we didn’t finish them off when we had the chance.
In 1974 the American Congress reflected an overwhelming Democrat and anti-war victory. Their first order of business was to cut off all military support to South Vietnam, even when the North launched another offensive on March 30, 1975. President Ford pleaded with Congress to allow him to intervene but Congress refused. On April 30, 1975, a chaotic evacuation of South Vietnamese ensued as communist tanks smashed through the gates of the South Vietnamese Presidential Palace, ending the war by brute force. In Cambodia, the communist Khmer Rouge completed their conquest and proceeded to empty the cities of people, forcing millions into the countryside for forced labor. The Khmer Rouge were ideological fanatics, paranoid, ignorant, suspicious of intellectuals, and vicious—wearing eye glasses could get you executed on the spot. Over a four-year period they executed nearly 2 million of the country’s 5 million inhabitants.
America wasn’t in a particularly happy place at that time; inflation was building as were interest rates. Interest rates climbed to more than 20 percent, and inflation hit around 15 percent annually. Inflation was eventually curbed in the 1980s by harsh economic policy and a lot of economic pain for years. In the meantime, the Arabs were quite angry with us for our support of Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, nearly lost by Israel after a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria. Israel considered using nuclear weapons to halt the Arab offensive but the president ordered a massive resupply of the Israeli military, enabling them to defeat the Arab armies in the nick of time. Arab nations retaliated, quadrupling the price of oil overnight; gas went to 50 cents a gallon in short order; some thought it might even hit a dollar a gallon. Yes, those were the good old days, if we only knew it. Gas was briefly rationed, block-long gas lines formed and fights broke out at gas stations.
In 1979, an Islamic revolution swept America’s ally, Iran, expelling the Shah of Iran and seizing the American Embassy. Sixty-plus American diplomats were blindfolded and held hostage for over a year. A rescue attempt by American commandos spectacularly failed as the rescue force was unable to reach Tehran; a deadly crash at a rendezvous point left eight Americans dead. The hostages remained in captivity for nearly another year.
Twenty years after a catastrophic attack on New York and Washington, we observe the fruits of a failed national strategy with nearly 10,000 military and civilian dead. At home we panic over imagined natural catastrophes that haven’t happened, ignoring natural history while taking counsel of our fears. Drought plagues the Southwest again as populations have doubled and fools continue to develop unsustainable locales. Did you know that in 1861-62 an “atmospheric river” dumped extraordinary amounts of rain on California, flooding the California Central Valley to a depth of 20 feet from Redding to Riverside County? The inland sea was 300 miles long and 70 miles wide. No greenhouse gas was required. It was followed by a drought that finished off the Spanish Rancho system. Geological records indicate this type of weather is the norm for the Southwest along with prolonged drought, sometimes decades in duration.
Our political leaders today are cooking up schemes to bankrupt the Republic, spending trillions of dollars we don’t have, which Democrats claim will cost nothing. Inflation reminiscent of the 1970s looms with gas prices approaching $5 a gallon, as Biden dismantles the energy sector of the economy. Democrats are proposing enormous tax increases on the middle and working classes, about $2,000 or more a year per family, adding 80,000 IRS agents to harass small businesses.
The southern border has collapsed as 2 million migrants are expected this year and endless more next year. Our civil liberties are threatened as speech is censored by non-accountable tech companies, and parents are told it’s not their place to determine what their children are taught in school. Yet, we continue to reelect the same, self-appointed “anointed ones” to office. We haven’t learned anything. Δ
Al Fonzi had a 35-year military career, serving in both the Vietnam and Iraq wars. Respond with a letter to the editor emailed to letters@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Awareness Issue 2021.
It is not surprising. The average liberal has the attention span of a gnat who has consumed too many Red Bulls and espressos, and is far more inclined to go charging off on whatever big, new thing has momentarily captured the a interest of social media than read history.
Ah, yes, John, because the appropriate reading of the history Al has laid out here is that, actually, ending wars and moving away from oil dependence is bad? Somehow? But, I guess you’re right, we can always blame the immigrants! And the tech companies! If you read history the one thing you should know is that not being able to post my thoughts to Facebook is a violation of the First Amendment!
Al and John – great work! You’re the best history knowers out there! Knowing history is what smart men do!
No, we haven’t learned from history. Supporting corrupt dictators from Diem in Vietnam to Karzai in Afghanistan never turns out well. The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill should have prevented Huntington Beach. Greed was also responsible for the contrived oil and beef shortages in the seventies which was, from my observation, the beginning of the end of civility in the United States. Before gas lines, you would get your oil and tires checked and windows washed for a dollar’s worth of regular. McCarthyism ran rampant in the 1950’s, and today there is yet again a Communist under every bed. We don’t mind running up the debt to give tax breaks to billionaires, and so far the trickle-down tooth fairy hasn’t left a dime under our pillows.
“Democrats are proposing enormous tax increases on the middle and working classes, about $2,000 or more a year per family, adding 80,000 IRS agents to harass small businesses.” Fonzi is at it again spewing false information gleaned from unreliable sources . The actual Democratic proposed plan would increase the top corporate tax rate to 26.5% from 21%, impose a 3-percentage-point surtax on people making over $5 million and raise capital-gains taxes. I’d like Mr. Fonzi to cite his source for tax increases on the middle class. As far as “harassing small businesses” goes, the 80,000 additional agents would be worth more than their weight in gold by investigating tax fraud and evasion.
Reaction to Heder:
Some individuals don’t even care to know in the first place.
Much less learn more over time.
Reaction to rhetoric:
Twenty years?
Seem like yesterday as we are reminded almost daily of the attack.
Reaction to Comments:
Bash our liberals,
blame migrants/tech companies,
did not learn from history,
overreaction has changed our society [for the worse],
Democrat’s plans will further erode middle class.
Overall Reaction;
Same ole, Same ole . . . where is a new and better solution?
The Libertarian Party will be 50 years old on Dec 11, 2021.
The LP offers solutions that work.
Solutions based on individual Liberty, economic Freedom and an unfettered market.
It’s always amazing when unmotivated lower income people…vote to take money from motivated producers….that’s the marxist/democrats plan
“Did you know that in 1861-62 an “atmospheric river” dumped extraordinary amounts of rain on California, flooding the California Central Valley to a depth of 20 feet from Redding to Riverside County?”
Actually, Mr. Fonzi, I did know that. When I was in grade school way back in the 1950’s we read portions of Bancroft’s History of California. I particularly loved the stories of the rise and fall of the old Spanish ranchos. Characters such as Lucky Baldwin and Don Benito Wilson were larger than life. Thank you for bringing back those memories.
I also remember reading the masterpieces of John Steinbeck, who recounted the ebb and flow of California’s climate, particularly the Salinas Valley. Steinbeck wrote of “years when the rainfall was plentiful” and about a time when the “live oaks got a crusty look and the sagebrush was gray.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Fonzi, your primary thesis that we need do nothing about climate change because California has seen a wide range of climate patterns over the years is simply false. At the same time as the “atmospheric river” inundated the Central Valley in the 1860’s, large glaciers in Greenland were not melting, desertification was not happening in disparate places such as Guatemala and Syria, and the oldest and thickest ice in the Arctic had not declined by 95%.
Today, not only is California in a “mega-drought,” but all of those other things are also happening. In other words, what Mr. Fonzi seems to believe is simply local irregularities are really global irregularities as the planet warms to a point when we will see even more catastrophic climate emergencies than are already taking place.
Last year alone, climate related calamities cost the U.S. $99 billion and that number is sure to climb in future years. The culprit in all of this is fossil fuel. It was obviously useful to industrial nations for centuries, but today, it is a debilitating force which has caused a myriad of problems throughout the world. Even the Chinese have figured correctly, that wind and solar are the future. China already controls 80% of the world’s solar marketplace and 33% of wind power.
Go ahead, Mr. Fonzi and stick your head in the sand. The rest of us need to move forward by welcoming a carbon neutral future. California has recently rejected your climate ignorance by voting overwhelmingly to retain Governor Newsom who has encouraged and helped to solidify a future which will look to mitigate climate related problems. I am optimistic that the majority of Americans have already rejected your thesis.
Liberals
Please explain why they find aquatic dinosaurs in the vast deserts of the mid east ?….climate change?…sure…however their were no cars or smokestacks 60 million years ago…
Republicans focus on creating wealth. Democrats focus on allocating the wealth that others create, so they get what they consider to be their “fair share”.
Hahahahaha. Wealth for whom, and from whom, and how, John? Your understanding of political economy runs about as deep as your understanding of history. By that I mean, just the words that make you feel good inside. But that’s fine, good for you buddy. Whatever tucks you in at night.
Speaking of fair share Mr. Donegan, how about if those wealth creators (and motivated producers as Keith Campbell refers) simply pay their FAIR SHARE of income tax instead of building their empires on the backs of those of us Americans who do pay income tax? The wealth creatorsFAIR SHARE of income tax would solve LOTS AND LOTS of economic issues for which taxpayers are constantly footing the bill.
Just a short note. Increasing the corporate tax rate isn’t a “tax on corporations.” Taxes charged to corporations are paid by the consumers of their goods, the employees in terms of lower wages, and the investors in terms of lower earnings and capital gains.
A rational tax scheme (other than a fraudulent one intended to confuse the citizens) would be to levy zero tax on corporations as long as they currently distributed their profits. The profits would be taxed in the hands of shareholders and the consumers would not have the corporate tax added to the cost of their products.
Government lies of necessity, to expand its bureaucracy and power over the citizens.