Viewpoint: Neville Chamberlain or Winston Churchill?
David Atkins
These are perilous times, not dissimilar to the 1930’s when Hitler was on the rise in Germany. He was rebuilding their armed forces in violation of the peace treaty after WWI. Britain, France and the USA had the authority to prevent Hitler’s actions.
Neville Chamberlain, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, infamously thought appeasement was the path to follow. Great Britain was the dominant world power at the time and the USA was in the middle of the Great Depression and couldn’t be bothered with issues across the Atlantic, and we failed to act.
Winston Churchill, was in the minority party and stridently called for action to confront Hitler, but he lost the argument at the time. When Hitler took over much of Europe, Churchill was proved right. He replaced Chamberlain as Prime Minister and helped lead the Allies in defending freedom and democracy by confronting Hitler.
Last Saturday on the House floor, as the bills to fund aide to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan were being debated, Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-TX) said, “Our adversaries are watching us here today and history will judge us on our actions here today, so as we deliberate on this vote, you have to ask yourself: Am I Chamberlain or am I Churchill?” President Biden has been calling for the passage of this legislation since last October, saying funding for Ukraine is essential to our national security.
We have an election in November. Voting is a tremendous right and responsibility granted to us by our constitution. We get to select our representatives in the House, Senate and Presidency. Our vote should be based on how they represent us and the decisions they make to help protect our country.
Our national security should not be a partisan issue. Decisions should be based on our national interests, not partisan interests. Representative McCaul and President Biden are from opposite parties, but they both have the national interest at the forefront of their thinking and thus are in alignment on this most important issue.
How did Montana’s representatives vote? Zinke and Rosendale voted against aid to Ukraine in the House. In the Senate in February Tester voted for aid and Daines voted against it.
I am politically Independent. I do not support a party. I support the person that I think has the best interests of the country and Montanans. I write to our members of congress periodically about what I think are important issues. I wrote in January about support for Ukraine to Tester, Daines and Zinke.
Tester and Daines wrote back in support of Ukraine. Daines proudly stated he was the first Senator to visit Ukraine after Russia invaded and stated how important their battle against Putin was. But he voted against the aid! Why?
Donald Trump tried to get the aid killed by coming out in opposition to Ukraine. Sadly, Daines and Zinke let political loyalty to Trump get in the way of doing the right thing for Montana, the country, and the world.
The USA helped form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after WWII to counteract the Soviet Union. The alliance has been an effective deterrent to dictators like Putin until 2014 when he invaded Ukraine and stole Crimea. He is trying to take the rest of Ukraine, testing NATO’s resolve. This is our moment in time to stop Putin, a Hitler wannabe.
Daines, Zinke and Rosendale sided with Chamberlain. Tester sided with Churchill! I will remember their votes when I am in the polling booth, and I hope you do too. United we stand, divided we fall. Don’t let Putin divide us.
Dave Atkins, a politically independent patriot supporting democracy.