Teddy Roosevelt and the Barbarous Virtues

"Unless we keep the barbarian virtues, gaining the civilized ones will be of little avail." - Teddy Roosevelt 1899

This idea too has been on my mind recently, and it may be part and parcel of the death of common sense. The idea that we know what is right and we know what we should do, but we have simply lost the intestinal fortitude to pursue it.

For example, Iran is at this time running pell mell toward the finish line of having a working nuclear device. Iran, the first practitioner of suicidal war since imperial Japan. Do you think it is in the best interests of pretty much every peace-loving non-muslim in the world to prevent that acquisition? Say it with me, 'Yes'. Can we, the United States, sole superpower left in the world, bring ourselves to stomp on Iran if only to set this project back a few years? I sincerely doubt it.

I fear that we have lost the barbarian virtues that allowed western civilization to succeed, and having lost them, our civilization will be devoured by cultures still possessing those virtues.