Men of a certain age have already imagined what is happening in Ukraine, but here in the United States. Those of us who were boys in the Reagan era imbibed Red Dawn and the miniseries Amerika and imagined the Russians trying to conquer the U.S.

Americans are relatively patriotic, especially compared with Western Europe. So it’s no surprise when the pollsters at Quinnipiac University report their latest finding: “When confronted with a terrible hypothetical that would put them in the shoes of the Ukrainians, Americans say they would stand and fight rather than seek safety in another country.”