When coming up for the title of this post, I was inspired by the book and later by the movie of the same title "The Ugly American."
There the connection ends. I just like the title.
So what am I talking about when I say, "The Cowardly American?"
Several things that are in some ways similar.
First and foremost, I am talking about all who are so rabidly opposed to any legislation that seeks to impose any limits on the possession of firearms.
I don't have any objection to Second Amendment and the right to own a gun. I own several. But I do believe there should be rational limits and restrictions to who owns a firearm and the type of weapons citizens should be allowed to own.
But, you might ask, what is this "Cowardly American" stuff all about? It is about the idea of the need to own any and all weapons to defend yourself. None of the guns I own have ever been seen by me as something I own to protect my life. The cowardly complaint is about the nature of fear and the problems fear causes. It's about a mindset of "me against the world I'm the good guy and everyone else is a potential bad guy." At its worst, it becomes "I need to protect my life, limb and property from the government."
These attitudes create the violent society we all love to complain about. When it comes to violence, and in the words of Pogo, the old comic character, "We have met the enemy and the enemy is us."
The other thing I'm thinking of when I use the phrase, "The Cowardly American," is the reluctance of most Americans to serve in a branch of the US Military. They are our "heroes" but we would rather not join with them. We have no desire to emulate them. We just pay them lip service while figuring we need as many guns of the greatest firepower as possible to possibly protect ourselves from the government our "heroes" serve.
Is this rational? Of course not. Fear is never rational. Cowards die a thousand deaths.