We Should Have Learned from the Spartans

Every Spartan mother's farewell to her son before he went into battle was, "Return with your shield, or on it." In other words, return victorious or dead. The Spartans are credited with saving ancient Greek society, when 300 of them fought to the death in 480 BC to decimate the army of tyrannical Persian King Xerxes. Even back then, Iranians were troublemakers. The Spartans saved democracy from being slaughtered in the cradle. We are repeating that crucial period of history now in our struggle against Islamo-fascism. The future of democracy hangs in the balance. Yet, there are those among us who are unwilling to even pick up a shield, much less return with it or on it. Had democratic societies made the Spartan mothers' farewell a human tradition, we would have weeded the bad seeds, slackers and cowards out of the species centuries ago. There would not be a liberal walking the face of the earth. Ann Coulter has a great column this week on liberal cowardice. If only we had followed the example of the Spartans.