Peace through Strength
Strength of mind and mutual understanding
Whether a society is more, or less, authoritarian in its political structure, it still depends upon broad support from its population. And this creates a dangerous world.
The policies of one State toward another is often a reflection of the extent to which their mutual hostility is a consequence of domestic partisan warfare. The governments of both China and the United States gain domestic political support by casting each other as the enemy whose strength they are matching and whose threat they are containing.
Where cooperation might improve the living conditions of millions around the world, scientific insights are withheld, vast amounts of national productive capacity spent on weapons systems, and global dangers receive limited attention, i.e. terrorism, international crime, climate change and the growth of ungoverned regions and private armies.
What can we do about this? If you see yourself as a civilized person, with the capacity to weigh threats and see past fire-breathing rhetoric about this or that enemy, you can act and speak with restraint.
The mutual interests between Nations in the 21st century far outweigh their actual conflicts. Or so I believe. Does that mean we should ignore hostile actions? Of course not, but our reaction should be measured and appropriate to the challenge or danger.
When a worthy expression of national pride becomes an emotional outpouring of hatred of the Other, we risk war and turn what might have been hospitals and schools into munitions factories and far-flung military bases.
It is not softminded foolishness that seeks the ways of peace.
“… and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; ....”