Jane Fonda to be honored at 2017 Women’s Media Center awards.
‒ News report

History is a vast early-warning system.
− Norman Cousins

Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point are referred to as the Long Gray Line. I would like to describe another long line. This one is red, not gray, and crooked, not straight. But it is quite definitely a line.

In 1972 the U.S. involvement in Vietnam was winding down. President Nixon, so reviled by liberals and leftists, was slowly withdrawing American troops after bringing North Vietnam to the bargaining table by means of a bombing campaign.

Nevertheless, the anti-war movement raged on in university campuses and elsewhere. Revealingly, the movement virtually ceased when Nixon ended the draft in January 1973. The protesters really cared little for what happened to the Vietnamese people ‒ they just didn’t want to be drafted. Concealing selfishness beneath the cloak of altruism is a common human failing, one we all must guard against.

In 1972, actress Jane Fonda accompanied her husband, leftist activist Tom Hayden, to North Vietnam, where they were welcomed by the communist leaders. But, you ask, how could this be? Wasn’t America at war with North Vietnam?

The last war America formally declared was World War II. So by this strict definition, we were not at war. But Congress authorized military action in Korea, in Vietnam, in the Gulf War, in Afghanistan, and again in Iraq. The Constitution gives Congress power to declare war, but it does not specify any words to be used. What is the use of military force if it is not war? Salsa dancing? Extreme diplomacy? By this looser but more realistic definition, we were at war in Vietnam. And 58,209 American dead would testify to this fact.

But since war had not been formally declared, and since President Nixon didn’t want to stir up even more negative publicity, Hayden and Fonda were never charged with treason, or with sedition, or with littering.

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.
‒ U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 3

So there were Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda in North Vietnam, an enemy nation. While Hayden busied himself consulting with communist officials, Fonda characteristically posed for photos with enemy troops. In the photo above, she posed behind an anti-aircraft gun, used to shoot down U.S. aircraft. Perhaps this was the gun that shot down the plane of John McCain, who then spent 5½ years being tortured in a prison camp. No, not water-boarded or sleep-deprived, but actually tortured.

Some have forgotten Hanoi Jane’s treasonous actions. Some have forgiven them. I have done neither. Only those afflicted with terminal amnesia have forgotten, and only those who fought in Vietnam have the right to forgive.

I bring up the subject not to castigate Jane Fonda for what she did years ago as a young woman, but to point out the line that runs from her, smiling and mugging the camera behind that anti-aircraft gun, to people today:

● The line runs through Colin Kaepernick and all the other National Anthem kneelers and flag disrespecters.

● The line runs through all the leftist professors and student agitators, setting fires, trashing deans’ offices, and shouting down conservative speakers.

● The line runs through all the leftist “journalists” and pundits, who apply a magnifying glass to all America’s failings, but turn a blind eye toward all its successes.

● The line runs through all those who allow anti-Trump sentiments to lapse into frankly anti-American sentiments.

● The line runs through all those who view the half of Americans who voted Republican not as misinformed political opponents who need to be won over, but as deplorable, irredeemable enemies who must be crushed.

● The line runs through all those who view other nations, especially socialist nations, through rose-colored glasses, but who view their own nation through a colonoscope. And what do you expect to see through a colonoscope?

Yes, Jane Fonda, Colin Kaepernick, and all those along the long, crooked line between them know their rights. They know their rights with blazing clarity. But they are willfully ignorant of their responsibilities ‒ specifically, their responsibilities to all those who fought and bled to secure those rights.

Let those Hollywood celebrities who wish to honor Jane Fonda have their gala event, no doubt with sycophantic media coverage. And let those who approve of the National Anthem kneelers continue to pay large sums to attend NFL games, or to watch them on TV. I, too, know my rights, and I will do neither.

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Author’s Note:

I refer to the long, crooked line leading from Jane “Hanoi” Fonda to Colin “Kneeler” Kaepernick as “red.” I was using the standard meaning of “red,” dating from the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Communists traditionally use a red flag ‒ the flags of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China are predominantly red.

Prior to 2000, the color scheme varied, with the more common − and more logical − practice being to use red for Democrats and blue for Republicans. For example, NBC’s David Brinkley referred to Ronald Reagan’s 49-state landslide victory in 1984 as a “sea of blue.”

In an effort to camouflage the communist origins of what is now called “liberalism,” starting in the 2000 election campaign, the mainstream media began referring to Democrat states as “blue,” and Republican states as “red.” But I refuse to lend credence to this deceptive practice.

The line from Jane Fonda to Colin Kaepernick is red. No, not bright red, the way it was in 1917, when there was hope that Marxism would work – but dull red, faded from 100 years of failure. So now they call it “economic justice” to conceal its true nature.

To understand “economic justice,” look at Venezuela. The formerly oil-rich nation has been reduced to the level that people must stand in long lines for food, medicine, and toilet paper. But it is “just,” in the sense that everyone must stand in line. (Everyone except government officials, of course.)

That the human soul is immortal is a matter of faith. But that bad ideas can live on indefinitely is an undeniable fact.

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Contact: dstol@prodigy.net. You are welcome to publish or post these articles, provided that you cite the author and website.

www.stolinsky.com