Kurt Schlichter’s post on military power channels Miracle on 34th Street

Kurt Schlichter writes that America’s military power is a force for good — which managed to remind me of the psychologist scene in Miracle on 34th Street.

Is there anyone here who has not seen the original Miracle on 34th Street, the one from 1947? No one? I didn’t think so. Everyone has seen that movie at least once.

In case you’ve forgotten, though, it’s about a man named Kris Kringle who claims he’s Santa Claus (Edmund Gwenn); an overworked, cynical single mother (Maureen O’Hara); and a little girl who believes only in those things she can see and touch (Natalie Wood). John Payne plays the love interest who is willing to believe in Santa Claus.

The scene in the movie I’m thinking of is the one in which Kris Kringle learns that a psychologist who gives intelligence tests has convinced Alfred, an innocent, sweet, naive young man, that the latter is in fact mentally ill. Kringle confronts the egotistical, pig-headed, really evil psychologist. When the latter won’t budge, Kringle says “There’s only one way to handle a man like you. You won’t listen to reason. You’re heartless. You have no humanity.” And then he bops the man on the head with an umbrella:

The officious, cynical characters in the movie think Kringle is insane, but the movie’s wise people understand that he was right — sometimes might and right go together. And that’s what Kurt says:

Power means being able to make other people do things they don’t want to do by hurting them if they refuse. That’s reality.

Our bestest and brightest are often taught the DIME paradigm – that the components of national power are Diplomatic (talking and cajoling), Information (messaging and propaganda), Military (boom!) and Economic (writing a check). DIE is okay, but DIE is what you will do if you don’t have a powerful M.

But they didn’t put M third merely because putting it first would screw up the acronym. Our transnational elite does not want to acknowledge the indisputable fact that, at the end of the day, the guy who can kill you and is willing to do so is going to win. Power is an infantryman standing on a piece of ground owning it – and the ability to keep him there. Sure, terrorists can pull off a one-time strike, but they can’t hold ground. Just ask ISIS. You’ll need a medium though, because they tried to hold ground and they all died.

You really should read the whole thing.

Physical power in and of itself is neutral. What matters is who wields that physical power and to what ends. The bad actors in the world use their military power to control, demean, torture, and dehumanize people. That’s been North Korea for almost 60 years. America wields her military might to defend herself and to free others. That is subordinating power to good causes — and it’s what Trump let Kim Jong-un know he was willing to do.

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