When I was younger I could not imagine that someone might actually choose to be ignorant. Because of my good fortune in having been raised in a household that valued education, choosing not to know something was unthinkable to me. And yet, large swathes of Western society have done so. And even more shockingly, done so with determination!

In Charles Dickens’ heartwarming tale of moral redemption, A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the three ghosts of Christmas. If you recall the story, the Ghost of Christmas Present has two miserable-looking children clinging to him under his long robe. A boy and a girl. Scrooge is taken aback at their frightful appearance, and asks whose children they are. The ghost, who is aging as he speaks, wistfully explains that they are the progeny of humankind. The girl is Want and the boy is Ignorance. Although the ghost warns Scrooge to beware of them both, he points out that the boy is by far the more dangerous, for the boy portends doom.

Dickens was writing about London in 1843, but the warning today seems more poignant than ever. Why? Because the wave of ignorance that is washing over us is threatening our very existence. Hyperbole? Perhaps, but how do we explain the Secretary of Defence of the world’s largest military power being almost fatally stupid? How do we deal with the Secretary of Health in a country that invented the majority of modern medicine as we know it, not believing in germ theory? I will not mention the guy they work for, because his ignorance is already world-famous.

If ignorance were a plague, we would consider walling off America so that we could not be infected, but that is not possible. It is true that there is a great deal of self-harm going on right now in America and that is unfortunate for everyone. But what is even more unfortunate is that no matter what we may want, it is a near-impossibility to avoid having American influence in our society, and therefore in our lives. Further, should the breathtaking ignorance in the senior levels of government south of us make an impactful decision regarding a military confrontation, then there may be no exit strategy for anyone.

I do not wish to be a doomsayer, so allow me to point out that ignorance does not have to be fatal. The cure is absurdly simple: value education. Pay teachers better. Insist on academic integrity at all levels of education. Value expertise. Stop giving any credence to hairbrained conspiracy theories. I could go on, but I won’t insult your obvious intelligence (hey, you’re reading this, right?)

To quote one of the icons of Canadian television, Mr. Red Green: “Keep your stick on the ice!”

As is my wont, please allow me to bring this op ed back to military theory. I remind the reader that decades ago the British historian Sir Michael Howard said that war should be seen as more that simply battles. War is a conflict between societies. This insight reinforced Carl von Clausewitz’s dictum that war is a continuation of politics (or policy) by other means — by the way, this idea is not original to Clausewitz. He got it from one of his mentors, Heinrich von Bülow (1757-1807). So? Ignorance of military thought and theory, whether within the military or in the general population, can have devastating effects.

Only by educating ourselves can we behave as responsible stakeholders in our parliamentary democracy. We need to understand enough military theory to appreciate why we need to rebuild our blue-water RCN (do you know what a blue-water navy is?). Likewise, we need to grasp the importance of having a larger RCAF that is capable of both strategic and tactical airpower projection. And, of course, it should go without saying that both our Regular Army and our Militia need to be expanded and trained to the very highest, professional, moral and functional standards. Becoming better educated allows the voter to understand when a person seeking political power is pandering, lying or simply stupid — like proposing that a country like ours doesn’t really need any military forces at all. If the voters don’t understand the issues, then they become pawns in the hands of people who may well lead us all into a situation where our society may have to fight another society, and that is something that — although we have demonstrated unusual skill at doing it — we should never wish upon ourselves.

PS: I wrote this op ed 24 Jul. On 25 Jul I awoke to the headline that the US DoD has suspended all participation in any think tanks until further notice. I can only suppose that the Sec Def saw a risk that one of his subordinates might learn something …