In the lead up to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, there was little appetite to enter WWII. Yet, in the following days, Gallup conducted a poll showing that 97% of Americans were in favor of Congress declaring war on Japan. It is hard to imagine a time in recent history that 97% of Americans have agreed on anything as monumental as our declaration of war on Japan in 1941. So single-minded were the American people about victory that within 30 days of the attack, 134,000 Americans had enlisted.
Yet today, we see numerous attempts to rewrite WWII history, portraying Churchill and the Allies as the real aggressor and Hitler as the victim. Most are not buying into Tucker Carlson’s crackpot theories, and yet that anyone believes such lies calls into question whether America still possess the moral self-confidence of a shining “city upon a hill” in contrast to the evil of our greatest adversary, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
While eight out of ten American hold an unfavorable view of China, this has not spurred much concrete action. American companies still rely on China for supply chain and manufacturing. Gen Z women still happily utilize the Chinese fast fashion brand Shein which, according to the WSJ in 2022, is valued at $100 billion. Shein has continued its domination of Gen Z fashion despite the company’s unwillingness to address the accusations that their cotton and other products from Xinjiang, where the Uyghur genocide is taking place.
The approach to the CCP owned app, TikTok, has also revealed a lack of stamina on the part of the American people. Long before the TikTok legislation was introduced in Congress, it was public knowledge that TikTok was not to be trusted and government officials were prohibited from having it on their government devices. The addictive nature of the app is concerning in its own right, but granting the CCP unfettered access to the data of millions of Americans is a national security threat. Now it appears that the White House is not only neglecting to uphold the law banning TikTok, but has even created a White House account on the app. Either China is a growing threat to be taken seriously or it is not, and if it is a significant threat then America’s actions must reflect our unfavorable view.
The Thucydides Trap posits that as a rising power emerges, it will inevitably threaten an existing great power, making war not just possible, but almost certain. Whether or not such conflict is inevitable is debatable; amidst the Cold War and particularly the Cuban Missile Crisis war seemed all but certain, yet open conflict between America and the Soviet Union was ultimately avoided. Through strong deterrence and a formidable show of force, the People’s Liberation Army might be deterred from moving on Taiwan. But if war comes, how will the American people react?
As America continues to restore deterrence without starting a larger conflict with China, Russia, or Iran, Americans must stiffen our spines, recognizing the necessity of the US rebuilding our military or and that American action on the world stage is not “war mongering” or “unwarranted aggression.” It is not enough to distrust China and say so on a poll; our actions should reflect the tension. Companies should be looking to move production out of China. There should be a real willingness to tell your daughters that fast fashion will no longer be purchased through Shein or Temu and there should be broad refusal to download TikTok. Even if the government will not enforce this divestment, US citizens can still refuse to be a pawn to the CCP owned company.
More than the anything though, Americans must be prepared to root for America if there is, God forbid, a war. For all the purported faults of the United States, there should be wide recognition that liberty must triumph over authoritarianism, and that our world will be a far worse place if CCP-run China comes to dominate the world. The largest burden to achieve a victory will fall on our government leaders and military, but it was the full force mobilization on the home front that spurred on our victory in WWII.
America likely will not see a mobilization of manpower on the scale of WWII ever again, so those who fear a draft should not lose sleep. But the psyche of the people on the home front will always matter greatly. No one should desire a conflict. We should pray and urge that our government deter our adversaries to avoid war. But history shows a world of flawed humans desiring power often leads to war. And it is not enough to be merely skeptical of our adversaries. We must be steely in our support of America in any conflict with China.
