Whatever the outcome of the Ukrainian War for Independence is, the folkloric actions of its leaders are already cementing themselves as legend in the next pages of history.  The epicenter of what actual adult leadership looks like has coalesced around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who, whatever his vices were prior to the invasion, has shown his true character by standing, in the literal sense, shoulder to shoulder with his fellow citizens in the battle-scarred streets of Kyiv.  When offered a coward’s evacuation by the American architects of our unconditional surrender in Afghanistan, Zelenskyy famously replied, “I need ammunition, not a ride”.  

Meanwhile, on our socially distanced shores, it was Applesauce Hour at the White House, where Joe Biden was led meanderingly from the activity hall bingo tournament to a microphone to address a roomful of sycophants we still quaintly refer to as “journalists”.  There, he promised to hit Russia with the roughest toughest sanctions y’all have ever seen, man.  He then took the opportunity, during the biggest foreign policy crisis in decades, to spend the weekend…meeting with intelligence officials?  Strategizing with NATO allies?  Nope, he was whisked away to Delaware, where he was allowed to play in the tub with his favorite bath toy Duckie.

Back in Ukraine, Zelenskyy is far from alone in his devotion to duty.  Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has also chosen to stay and fight for his city and country.  “We’re ready to fight and ready to die”, he recently told Anderson Cooper, who couldn’t muster the discipline to at least nod along in feigned comprehension rather than maintain his scowl of half-confusion, half-contempt for a concept so antiquated as patriotism.   Does any American honestly believe that Washington, D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser would exhibit courage like this if Russian tanks were rolling through?  Or Ted Wheeler?  Or Jacob Frey?

Members of Ukraine’s parliament are also staying behind, arming themselves with weapons and joining the fight.  They’re fighting with AK-47s against battalions of tanks, artillery, and missiles.  Compare their courage to the security detail-surrounded flight of our congresspeople and senators during the January 6th “insurrection”.  When confronted with a trespassing bunch of rowdy, selfie-taking morons, every single one of which was unarmed, the tapeworms we’ve elected couldn’t find wheelchair-bound invalids old enough to avoid trampling in their stampede for the nuclear bunkers until the “insurrection” was quelled and the city delivered.  The Praetorian Guard manned the Capitol fences for nearly a year thereafter, and the January 6th “anniversary” brought a mixture of solemn reflection and media-driven Do you remember where you were when… scripted artificiality that Ed Wood would have dismissed as too unbelievable. 

Ukrainian celebrities don’t hide behind hashtags.  Former Miss Ukraine Anastasia Lenna has armed herself and joined the front lines, posting, “Everyone who crosses the Ukrainian border with the intent to invade will be killed!” 

Ukrainian champion boxer Vasiliy Lomachenko has likewise taken up arms against the invaders.  Guitarist Andriy Khlyvnyuk from the Ukrainian band Boombox did so as well, stating, “Now it’s not time for playing guitars  It’s time to take the rifles”.

I would never expect Beyonce or the middle-aged children of Green Day to exhibit this type of dedication to anything other than themselves.  Still, I’m a bit surprised that Hollywood hasn’t even bothered with the obligatory “Imagine” sing-a-long.  Rather, Joy Behar whines that all this Ukraine claptrap is putting a dent in her vacation plans for Italy. 

Brave Ukrainians are being joined by brave Russians, thousands of whom face years in jail for peacefully protesting against the war.  In an act of defiance against the Russian government's increasingly draconian crackdown on media outlets who don't tow the party line, every staffer publicly walked off the set of the Russian news station Dozhd.  Meanwhile, our own "news" organizations obediently run interference for Biden with tough, uncomfortable questions about ice cream preferences, while behind the scenes the Zuckerbergs and Dorseys are only too happy to outright censor anti-establishment criticisms.  They're aided not grudgingly, but eagerly, by cubicle row upon cubicle row of petty, resentful little tyrants masquerading as "fact checkers".

Ukrainian social media influencer Nastya Tuman posts videos on how to commandeer abandoned armored vehicles.  What are American social media influencers posting videos about?  How does turpentine enhance the flavor of Tide-pods?

The crack reporters at CBS worry about how the war will affect not Ukrainian children, but rather transgender adults.  Fiction writer Nikole Hannah-Jones-Raggedy-Ann bemoans the “racialized” coverage of the war in Ukraine.  And John Kerry limped, dead last in the Obscurity Olympics, across the finish line with a groveling plea to Putin that, as he pounds Ukraine to rubble, to please make it a priority to “stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate”. 

We’re witnessing Ukraine’s leaders, parliamentarians, celebrities, outgunned soldiers, and scores of civilian men and women take up arms to defend their country.  Ukrainian fathers are sending their sobbing children away on trains, while they themselves stay back to defend their homes with their bare hands.  Ukrainian women fight alongside them and are living examples to our sanctimonious Handmaid’s Tale cosplayers as to what real feminism looks like. 

Oh, and they’re doing it without N95 face diapers. 

I’m not suggesting here that Americans wouldn’t act heroically in the face of foreign military invasion.  I also don’t think such bravery would be limited to “conservative” Americans, and I’m willing to wager that traditionally “liberal” (not Left) Americans would join the fight in larger numbers than we’d give them credit for.  But we continue to suffer from the self-inflicted wounds of horrible leadership, which in turn can only exist in a culture that has been thoroughly corrupted beforehand. 

A recent Pew Research poll showed that only 68% of Americans have confidence in our military (read: military leadership, not the rank-and-file soldiery).  After the Afghan humiliation and our generals’ obsession with wokeness, I’m surprised the number is that high.  After General “Hundred Medals” Milley handed the Taliban $80 billion in weaponry, thirteen American corpses, and a propaganda victory too valuable to price, he was publicly criticized by one military officer.  One.

The same poll shows that levels of trust continue to fall for our medical institutions, our public schools, our media, and, of course, our politicians.  These once-noble institutions are now unabashed mouthpieces for the Groupthink Left, as is evident by their despicable responses to the Ukraine crisis. 

I don’t know all the reasons why Ukrainians muster the national resolve that we can’t.  Maybe it’s because the constant threat of a looming Russia gave them a common purpose.  Maybe it’s because Ukraine is a smaller country.  Whatever the reasons, there was a time when America felt the same level of devotion and loyalty from her citizenry that Ukraine does now.  But not anymore. 

We don’t have to let our self-proclaimed elite dictate our culture to us.  We can shape that ourselves and force the slow trickle of change upward.  But we have to live it, not just preach it.  We American conservatives like to talk a big game about how many scalps we’d take in the event of either a foreign invasion or a civil war.  That's great, but right now America doesn't need battlefield heroics.  America needs living examples of patriotic, religious citizens, doing the day in, day out, decades-long thankless work of reclaiming our culture through the examples we set in living our lives, raising our children, and interacting with our communities.  And in the event that we ever need to rise as one nation against enemies foreign or domestic, we can proudly follow in the footsteps the Ukrainians are now walking. 

Photo credit: Instagram via New York Post