Should be no surprise that so many Americans are wrapped up in the final season of the smash tv series “Game of Thrones”. It offers everything from dragons to zombies….to a 3-eyed raven seer….and a cast of characters that includes every imaginable human failing….but also some human greatness too. This fantasy world manages to illuminate a lot of the real one in which we live.

It’s about the battle for power but the ultimate goal of survival. A British writer for The Federalist Sumantra Maitra summed it up….every generation chooses to ignore what history has taught: that lofty rhetoric, good intentions, even strong will cannot win the day without hard power and tactical alliances (that’s unity). As Maitra writes,”all norms, values and senses of justice go up in smoke when your warship is rammed, your walls are blasted open, and you don’t have food on the table and shelter over your head as enemies mass, circle and slither outside the ramparts…..”