Author’s note — This article was written before the passage of HR 8035, the House bill that specifically included the funding of over $60 billion in aid for Ukraine but was also part of the parcel of legislation that included funding for Israel and Taiwan. Portions of this article reflect the updated fact of the passage of these funding bills.

“Hillbilly Elegy,” J.D. Vance’s requiem about his upbringing was on my list back in 2018 as one of my favorite books of that year, a lament about his family upbringing and formidable challenges of the surrounding culture.

Vance’s politics of the time were somewhat opaque, but his memoir seemed to emanate from a particularly reasoned and insightful mind. In today’s world he exhibited what I would have guessed to be a sensible centrist mind. For me, that supposition was undermined when he decided to be one of the loudest critics of Ukraine funding.

Politically, I’m often of two minds, tired of screamers on the extreme left and election deniers on the right. But here, I find myself right in the middle of the vast majority of Americans. The future of Ukraine matters for America and the rest of the free world.

Mr. Vance believes that funding for the U.S. border is the priority for the U.S. government, not funding for a European ally trying to save its democracy, its sovereignty and its homeland from imperialist Russian aggression. I happen to agree that bipartisan solutions for the border are a priority. Yet Vance has no border qualms over sending billions in military aid to Israel, a country also trying to fend off a Hamas regime whose sole purpose is likewise to erase a sovereign democratic ally from the map of the Middle East. I’m confident that the U.S. can walk and chew gum at the same time.

I have argued in other columns that one of the biggest threats to our nation today are the dangerous and divisive culture wars that are eating away at our historically unified sense of national identity and global exceptionalism. Another is the creeping appeal of authoritarianism inveigling its way into our world, a cynical world of doubt, deceit, disinformation and deception. These troubling times are ripe for authoritarian advances, taking advantage of chaotic times and unrequited loyalties.

Mr. Vance is basically saying that Russia’s “special military operation” against Ukraine constitutes no-harm no-foul to us; so, we just need to get on with our own nation’s business. Well, here’s a bit of national security perspective.

China is a growing powerhouse. The relationship between the Chinese and Russian governments has been growing cozier by the day. Their combined population is 1,556,000,000. The U.S. has a population of approximately 330,000,000. The PRC and Russian combined nuclear arsenal dwarfs ours. These aggressive nations, with aspirations for imperial expansion, have five times more people and probably five times as many potential “boots on the ground.” If the West chooses to look away — as in mind our own business — these aggressors will become increasingly incentivized to illegally invade sovereign nations. The cost to change our minds and policies as things get out of control get dearer and dearer, especially if we have thumbed our noses at our allies. To put it bluntly, the only way we get to partial parity with these two aggressors is to be in sync with our allies. They are our proverbial ace in the hole.

Henry Ford was opposed to the U.S. going to war in Europe, letting France and Great Britain fall to Nazi Germany. So be it was his attitude as he refused to use his manufacturing capacity to send arms to Britain. Then he changed his tune as the dominoes inevitably fell and Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Famously, Father Charles Coughlin was even more insistent, let Nazi Germany take France, Britain and the Soviet Union and leave the U.S. to its own domestic interests. Of course, his screeds were also full of anti-Semitic nonsense, but he preached his way into misleading gatherings of thousands. Now that “radio priest” is reproached by history as trying to lead America astray at a pivotal point in our history.

Not seeing the inevitable consequences of failing to stand up to Russian aggression in Europe, and the potential for further Russian aggression into smaller northern and eastern NATO nations, is at best illusional and at worst delusional, and certain to eventually lead to greater losses of American blood and treasure.

Mr. Vance has said publicly that the U.S. needs to get out of Ukraine and accept that Ukraine will just need to “cede some territory” to Russia to end the war. This Ford-Coughlin mentality of benign neglect rarely works in reality. If history is telling, it simply forestalls the inevitable. Vladimir Putin’s modus operandi is transparent: Give me an imperial inch and I’ll take an imperial mile. He seems to have an insatiable appetite for all the negative attention he’s been getting for his depraved and shameless deeds.

I understand that politics is all about gamesmanship. But there comes a time when gamesmanship must take a backseat to statesmanship. At the time of the origins of this column, I wrote that “it appears as though Speaker of the House Mike Johnson comprehends the gravity of this moment in international affairs as he tries to get funding bills on Israel, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific (read Taiwan) and the border to the floor of the House, even if it costs him his job. If his plan is successful, and we can get funding for all four, he might be a candidate for a postscript to JFK’s book, “Profiles in Courage.”

As it turned out, Johnson huddled with intelligence officials, spoke with the president of Ukraine, House Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul (R), his colleagues in the House and Senate and made the statesman-like decision to bring the bill to the floor for what came to be the successful passage of a large bipartisan vote, 311-112, including from Ohio six Republican and five Democract “yeas” and three Republican “nays.”

Speaker Johnson put it this way. “I wanted to be on the right side of history.” He was reminded of John Quincy Adams’ answer to the question of why when he was in Congress he kept bringing up the same resolution to end slavery only to see it fail each time. Adams said, “Duty is ours. Results are God’s.”

In the aftermath of the vote this week in support of Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, perhaps Mr. Vance can write a postscript elegy dedicated to freedom and democracy around the world.

Bill Sims is a Hillsboro resident, retired president of the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, an author and runs a small farm in Berrysville with his wife. He is a former educator, executive and foundation president.