The Great Dictator (1940)

I recently saw the classic movie, "The Great Dictator" and found it pretty outstanding. At the end, Charlie Chaplin, who also wrote and directed the movie, gives a great speech and thought it would be great reading here. Well worth putting on your Netflix list. The following is quoted/copied from wikiquote.org.

In which Chaplin plays the dual roles of the dictator "Adenoid Hynkel" (a direct parody of Adolf Hitler) and "The Jewish Barber" .
At the end of the movie, the barber is mistaken for the dictator and asked to give a speech on the occasion of the invasion of a neighboring country. The speech, in its entirety, is what follows:
"I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost....
"The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. .....
"Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!"

In the world of BRAC

In the world of BRAC and saving money for the DoD and Navy, one has to question the purpose of building the new DD(X). Submariners have joked for decades that there only two types of ships… Submarines and Targets. Truly, no one expects to see great sea battles of WWII, and rarely has there been a need for large combatant escorts on the ocean. A modern Navy needs to reinvent itself.

Our Navy needs to concentrate on a three facetted supremacy, shore, airspace and waterspace. How can we accomplish this? First, Shore-based supremacy is accomplished by our Navy-Marine Corps Team. The use of Landing Crafts and other ships needed to transport Marines and Sea Bees to distant shores should be an acquisition priority. These ships should also be re-invented to provide ample self protection. There is no reason that they should need to be escorted by other warships. They are by definition, a warship.

Airspace supremacy is and has been accomplished by a very able Aircraft Carrier group. Maintaining the Carriers is a vital to establishing a forward deployed presence anytime anywhere. Carriers need to be reinvented to be multi-mission capable. Carriers need to carry their own set of deployable boats for littoral protection. Carriers should be virtually impenetrable fortresses from any surface or air strikes.

Finally, waterspace supremacy is virtually the domain of the Submarine. Any navy that does not have a submarine might as well not even attempt to conduct any sea-based operations. The US Submarine force has continued to evolve over the past 100 years, unlike any other part of the Navy. From diesel power to nuclear power, fast attack to being the last surviving leg of our nation’s nuclear triad, the submarine force is the “Tip of the Sword” for the US Navy. Using submarines to provide ship escort services, anti-submarine operations, special operations, forward deployed conventional missile batteries and on and on continues to prove that this where we get the most bang for our buck.

If the Navy really wants to save money, they need to get rid of these ridiculous surface ships that serve no real purpose, and concentrate on the three pronged approach to deploying forces. While I have not addressed non-combatant oriented ships, such as supply ships and mine sweepers, as long as their mission is unique, it should stand up to similar tests of need. The days of the “Great White Fleet” are over. Ships such as the Stark and Cole prove that deploying these types of vessels just do not make as much sense anymore, when a message to a submarine can mean the utter doom of shipping or war making capability of just about any country.

As we watch countries such as China and India invest more and more into submarines, we can be sure that the best defense is a more capable submarine platform. It is hard to imagine that there are better platforms that perform the missions as capable with less personnel than a U.S. Submarine. They are more capable, more survivable, and more threatening than any warship. The pittance that politicians are throwing at the Submarine Force to keep it afloat is a travesty to our Nation’s defensive posture. Without an effective and highly trained submarine force, our nation could essentially be considered defenseless.