Day of Infamy

"Why the hell is the Navy practicing this early on a Sunday morning?"
--Danny Walker (Pearl Harbor)

Pearl Harbor Day is today. This morning, when a newsperson noted that the Day of Infamy occurred 68 yrs ago today, my knee jerk reaction was that she did the math wrong, that it was longer ago than that.

I suppose since this event occurred a generation before I was born, it still seems a bit like ancient history to me. To this day, I imagine those periods in black in white. And I remain captivated whenever I see color footage of WWII. It just doesn't jibe w/ my paradigm.

Speaking of having to revise my mindset, I've also changed my view on the validity of US involvement in WWII. I now believe that we did not have to participate. We had been escalating committment long before Dec 7th and there's a good argument (and some evidence) to suggest that FDR 'needed' us in the war by the end of 1941 for various reasons.

If one believes that individual freedom is the most precious of life's gifts, then the only valid reason to fight is when one's personal liberty is under direct attack. This liberty is expressed in three areas: your life, your wherewithall to produce, and your property. If someone seeks to coercively appropriate of any of these 3 areas from you, then you are justified to defend your liberty accordingly.

This is what the Founders did, making the American Revolution one of the few just wars in history.