Pat Buchanan's assessment of our World War II involvement indicates an absence of sanity.
Pat Buchanan is a bright, inventive and sometimes witty individual who has been, among other things, a syndicated columnist, a television talk-show host and guest and a marginal presidential candidate. He's currently kicking around the notion of bolting the Republican Party to become some sort of figurehead for a third party. Buchanan, in fact, says he is "dead serious" about leaving the GOP to seek the Reform Party's presidential nomination for 2000. Republicans are understandably concerned that such a move would drain votes from their candidate and put a Democrat like Al Gore or Bill Bradley, the current front-runners, in the White House.
Buchanan's conservative views are well-known by now and often he is quite extreme in his "platform." While one might not agree, he has his right to speak out. But he must have had a serious sanity lapse while formulating his new book, "A Republic, Not an Empire."
In the writing, Buchanan contends that Germany's Adolf Hitler was not a direct threat to the United States after 1940 and his ambitions for conquest were toward the east, not the west. By Buchanan's standards, the United States should not have let itself be drawn into World War II to combat Japan and Germany, even though Japan triggered the action.
"Hitler's real ambitions lay in carving out an empire in the east." He had given up the idea of global empire," says Buchanan, a frequent critic of U.S. intervention overseas. Not many in their right mind takes such a charitable view toward Hitler's intentions.
Buchanan agrees America was right to fight in Europe after Germany declared war, as if he is charitably agreeing with the nation's pivotal role in the war.
Pat Buchanan has had a number of extreme views on a number of subjects, but this one takes the cake for silliness.
With that outlook, the Reform Party that accepts him as its candidate deserves a sound and solid drubbing while more responsible people and political agencies contend for the Oval Office.
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