G. Edward Griffin - The Fearful Master - PDF Archive

The saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished liberty is that it was
lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while yet there was time.
Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland, 1937
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: POINT OF NO RETURN
In the far reaches of the globe, there live tiny rodent-like creatures called lemmings. They
lead a rather solitary life and seem to be well adjusted to their environment. They look and
behave in quite a normal fashion--except for one curious idiosyncrasy. Every once in a
while, after several years of unusual prosperity for the lemming clan, they suddenly get an
uncontrollable urge to go for a swim. Almost as though on cue, they come from all the
remote parts of the terrain and, joining together into one huge army, march relentlessly to
the sea. When they get there, they fling themselves into the surf and swim straight out
from shore. Days later the beaches are piled deep with the tiny bodies where the tide has
washed them up to decay in the sun.
Nothing resembles these lemmings quite so much as the way we Americans have been
stampeding to our own destruction. We have already abandoned the secure ground of
national strength and independence to leap into the boiling waters of internationalism. We
are swimming straight out to sea as though there were a brighter, more secure paradise
just ahead. But the water gets deeper by the minute, and our strength is beginning to ebb.
Soon, even if we change our minds and decide to turn back to shore, it will be too late. We
are rapidly approaching the point of no return--disarmament.
Almost everyone, of course, is opposed to war--particularly nuclear war--and we would all
like to see the nations of the world throw their weapons on the scrap-heap and live
peacefully together. In fact, this has been an ancient desire of noble-minded men since
the dawn of history. But does getting rid of one's best weapons prevent war?
Unfortunately not. It merely means that men then fight with their second-best weapons. Or
it may mean that one side fights with its second-best weapons while the other uses
superior weapons that everyone thought had been destroyed but which had been kept
and perfected in secret.
It is true that in the past arming has always led to war; but so has disarming! Remember
Pearl Harbor and Korea? As a matter of fact, most wars would never have been started
but for the aggressor thinking he was sufficiently superior in military forces to overcome
the opposition. A disarmed nation, therefore, is far more likely to be attacked and plunged
into war than one that is armed. This is particularly true in the world of today where
international Communism is carrying out its avowed program of global conquest. High
ranking Soviet military officers who have defected to the West have told us that the
Communists are just waiting for us to lower our guard. Nikolai F. Artamanov, for instance,
a former Soviet naval captain, testified on September 14, 1960, before the House
Committee on Un-American Activities and said that Soviet strategy is based upon a
surprise nuclear attack on the U.S. if the Soviet leaders could be assured that victory
would come at once. 1
Note, however, that the Communists do not want to inflict nuclear devastation on America.
They want to capture our great nation intact with all of our skilled labor and productive