More from John Robson

John Robson is one of my favourite political commentators. He's smart and witty, well read and generally conservative in his thinking. A recent article on his website talks about Canada's contributions to WW1 and WW2:

it was not multiculturalism, peacekeeping or tolerance that Canada brought to the struggle for freedom and decency in the world but courage, determination and an honourable willingness to kill or be killed.

A good observation. But I guess the real question is whether this country still maintains "an honourable willingness to kill or be killed". Yes, diplomacy is important. Yes, we need to dialog and respect other viewpoints. But every once in a while a Hitler comes along, dialog is pointless, and it's a matter of totalitarian oppression or democratic freedom. So do we have the national will to stand up for anything anymore, or does a loss of national will signal our decline as a nation? Nations are seldom conquered without first losing their national will.

So is this an odd message for a Christian like myself to post? Not really. There are a variety of opinions within Christianity about war, but the "Just War" tradition is a long and honourable one. The Just War tradition says that there are some evils which Christian men must stand against. Not every war is just, and a Christian should not get caught up in war fever. But sometimes we need to fight.

You can see John Robson's whole article at:

http://www.thejohnrobson.com/columns/2007/070409.htm

While you're at it, read his article on electing judges. If the legal system is going to give us activist judges (who make laws rather than interpreting them), then the only defense citizens of a democracy have against this system is to elect judges.

http://www.thejohnrobson.com/columns/2007/070413.htm