Columbus discovered us, and thank God for it

Happy Columbus Day!

And yes, there are good reasons to be happy. For the chain of events that resulted in the creation and evolution of the greatest nation the world has even known includes the discoveries of Christopher Columbus in 1492 as essential and as Exhibit A for proof of the reasons we became the Shining City on a Hill.

I was motivated to write this blog when I read a column by Uruguayan writer for Progressive Media Project, Eduardo Galeano:

Who were the savages?

Perhaps the most revealing episode in the history of the Americas occurred in 1563 in Chile. Indians besieged the fortress of Arauco, depriving the Spanish of food and water, yet Captain Bernal refused to surrender.

From the stockade he screamed out, “There will be more and more of us!”

“With what women will you make them?” the Indian chief asked.

“With yours. We will make them bear children who will be your masters.”

The invaders called the original Americans idolaters and savages because the indigenous people believed that nature is sacred and that we are the brothers and sisters of all those with feet, paws, wings, or roots.

Today, with nature defiled and war and brutality rampant, who is the true idolater, the true savage?

Do you see that word “Today” at the beginning of the last paragraph?

Does this not crystallize the Left’s ignorance or willful denial of history and hatred of The United States and Western Civilization quite well.

Mr. Galeano, do you not know that both the “gentle” people you describe on Hispaniola and all other peoples that have ever walked the Earth have continually engaged in war and brutality since Eve bit the apple, or, if it helps, since an ape became man?

And do you suggest that the West engage in massive de-population to the level of The Americas of the 15th Century?

You scoff at what Columbus imagined about the New World and where he thought he was, yet romanticize the ignorance of the people Columbus discovered.

The big picture you don’t see is that Columbus discovered America as the first step in ending the ignorance.

Neither the people Columbus encountered nor the civilization Columbus represented was innocent and both engaged in savagery.

But shouldn’t the civilization of Columbus be proud that we found them rather than indulge in some romantic notion that had Europeans not crossed the Great Pond, the peoples of the Americas would have re-created Eden, or, if it helps, created a utopian Marxist state?

Centuries before Columbus’s 1492 voyage, Europe was like Hispaniola in that year. And just like the Apaches and the Comanches, they killed each other in wars of conquest.

The fact of the matter is that Native American tribes tried to win their wars against colonists. They lost.

Deal with it.

And keep on enjoying the posh life we all have, due, in no small part to the courage of people like Columbus who weren’t content to sit in Ivory Towers and criticize the ignorance of others.

Columbus took action to reduce the ignorance. And you and I are the better for it.

[See also an excellent series of columns on Columbus by Sean O’Donnell of Examiner.com

Mike DeVine

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

Charlotte Observer, The Minority Report and Examiner.com archives

www.devinelawvista.com