LRC blog pick
Blessed are the peaceniks
By Joseph Sobran, from The Wanderer

One of the baneful side effects of the Cold War was to make 'peace' sound like a left-wing cause and to identify conservatism with war.

...unconstitutional government... always thrives on war. Our real enemies ... not in Baghdad, but in Washington.

I have gradually broken my ties with the conservative movement and rediscovered an older conservatism of peace.

...war is the opposite of conservative. It destroys. I got one of the shocks of my life in 1981 when I visited Berlin and walked among some of the preserved buildings, where German civilians had once lived, that had been hit by American bombers.

If I can excite even a little horror of war in my fellow conservatives, I will feel that my long career has not been entirely wasted.

To this day, I find it impossible to look back on World War II with pride or pleasure, let alone admiration for the men who wanted it. I do venerate the two great Popes, Pius XI and Pius XII, who saw it coming and pled for peace. They are the true war heroes.