VIETNAM
643
Do we desire it? Do we desire deeply to die of indigestion? Might it not
be simpler if the Communists die of the same disease? But, in fact, might
they not hesitate? For, the more Communism grows at a vertiginous rate,
the more it must suffer from vertigo.
It
is
like America. So, Communism
might even come to recognize that Communism in possession of three–
quarters of the world cannot have any world. The world is now balanced
on too much. So Communism might even retreat before the terror of
ideology being lost in the jungles and grasslands. What if Communism
is not an unstoppable force--but is rather (since we can only approach
comprehension of these matters by metaphor) a giant with a specific
neurosis that it will awake one morning on the compulsion to eat its
own limbs. I say: throw Asia open to Communism. The meal will not
be taken.
If
it is, we will even live to see the Communists destroy them–
selves. It is certain we can not destroy them. We, like them, can only eat
upon ourselves-this is after all a century for perverts and Reds.
But, believe me not. Take the alternative: might against might.
Our troops against theirs-no, of course we are not serious. Even Barry
Goldwater knows that we can't defeat the Communists militarily, not
even with atom bombs. How could we occupy what we left? The cost
of rebuilding it. The boredom for America's young couples-obliged to
live out their early married years in rebuilt cities in Siberia and Mongolia.
All the ration stamps. All the ghosts of 900,000,000 atomized corpses.
No, we don't really want to defeat Communism militarily. But we do
want to stand up man to man, stick to stick.
If
we cannot stop Com–
munism by the force of our armies, we could of course pitch in to help
createl a world society of military and bureaucratic behemoths who will
nibble at one another forever in small dribbled-out land wars while
totalitarian tissues fill up with the waters of political edema, yes, just
as our good prophet and saint, George Orwell, was dying to remind us.
Look to the other side. To absolute isolation.
If
all the world were
Communist but America, America would
be
militarily in no poor position.
We could still fight the rest of the world if we chose to. That is the
paradoxical nature of nuclear war. But it is doubtful if Communism
would then have the impetus to fight anything. Can anyone--even
Pwight-conceive of Communism remaining unruptured in its cast–
concrete heart on a diet of English lords, French intellectuals, Italian
lovers, African drums, zen, yoga, pot, the New Wave, pop art, camp-–
the prospect invites occupation. "Come on in, honey, this hustler's got
enough diseases to keep you dripping all your days."
That, of course, is not programmatic, I would assure you. The world
will
never go to the Communists because they will never get through
