Just received Jeremy Rabkin’s The Case for Sovereignty: Why the World Should Welcome American Independence in the mail. This is essential reading. The main point of the the book, Rabkin writes, “is to remind readers that the United States has no reason to be defensive about retaining its independence.” Nor does the Bush administration have reason to apologize for acting unilaterally to protect America’s best interests. Chapter 3 of Rabkin’s book shows that the U.S. has insisted on taking an independent course from our founding, through the War of 1812, after the Spanish-American War, during the era of the Monroe Doctrine, and into the 21st century.

And as this day of mourning comes to an end, it serves us well to remember that Reagan’s triumphant philosophy was “Peace Through Strength”–American strength–not “Peace Through International Organization.”