Cosmopolitan progressive and Chinese Politburo fanboy Tom Friedman has written a column I agree with, and that doesn’t happen too often. I recommend you go read the whole thing.
His column is a piece of undistilled common sense, and that is so uncommon from the New York Times crowd. Here are his main points:
Wikileaks would never have happened if we has controlled our information. An American with a security clearance and no loyalty to his country handed it all over.
We handed China the knife that is now at our throat. International financiers could not bend us over if we had not irresponsibly gorged ourselves on imported goods financed by easy money.
We are a slave to the Middle East. We could tell the whole rotten stinking toilet known as the middle east to go to hell if we didn’t need their oil.
When you put yourself in hock to others, you lose control of your agenda and your destiny. Ultimately, you will lose your soul.
Consequences Suck
Not so much untended consequences as just plain consequences. Much is being made from the right about Obama’s lack of power and leverage in the world. Well, that was a long time coming. We are over-leveraged andover-extended. There are too many variables in the equation for us to think we can control it all.
Far from criticizing Hillary's State Department, I think the WikiLeak cables reveal a diplomatic corps doing its damnedest to protect our interests while striving to deal honestly with other governments.
There are Solutions
A good libertarian argument for quitting the middle east goes like this: Who cares if the current nasty regimes that fund terrorists are replaced by nastier ones who actually are the terrorists? They still mustsell the oil on the global market. They can’t withhold it and they can’t set an artificially high price, because they are not the only game in town. Plus, if worse came to worst, we can pump our own and make up much of the difference.
A similar libertarian argument can be made for quitting Pakistan and Afghanistan. We oppose centrally-planned statist solutions here at home, so why support them in foreign lands where our “solutions” clash with localculture? We can’t continue running around stamping out every fire. Let Russia and China grapple with their troublesome neighbors, while we sit back and marshal our strength.
The successful martial artist will tell you that it's not about conquering others, it's about conquering oneself. That is the most formidable opponent. The founders knew this to be true. We Americans must learn it anew.
2 comments:
The best solution is to start focusing on our internal problems and let the world handle their own.
We must, the United States, take a stand and start using our own natural resources and researching on better alternatives for fuel that won't destroy our environment.
Silver, kudos to Friedman. I'm shocked. I have the uneasy feeling that the PFC with the Top Secret Clearance reported to military apologists. I think a lot of that goes one with the desk jockeys (not the troops, the non-coms or officers in the field).
How can one PFC download this staggering amount of material - especially so much of it originating from the State Department. I don't doubt Manning did it, but he had to have help.
State, Defense and the Pentagon are liberal bastions of political correctness. If we don't do something they will bring this country all the way to our knees.
I would pay $10/gal for gas to shut out the ME. That's a sacrifice for my country I will gladly make. Now I'll acknowledge that fuel for my auto isn't the gas hike and it would affect businesses in a major way. Guess we'll have to drill.
The Ruling Class deserves China. We don't.
I don't know what to do about Afghanistan. Had we not sacrificed so many and so much, I'd say walk away after we....
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