Millions of Americans and some in Congress think the United States should become an island and let the rest of the world go to where-ever. The Japanese Prime Minister just gave Congress a lesson on why we must stand up to aggression and lead the Allies against North Korea, China and Russia. We know a few other countries “rattle their cages” which require us to “bang the bars” occasionally.

            The questions those people who want us to be an island are unable to see what history has taught us. Remember, World War II and how Germany and Japan had plans to occupy the United States. We would not have defeated Germany without Britain and Russia. Without having to fight Germany we could have beaten or flattened Japan within three years without the bomb. To do so we would have needed Australia and some other land for bases only. We need Allies in one way or another to keep our enemies at bay. After 9-11, we used the NATO committee and Russia to invade Afghanistan.

            Why do we care if our former Allies are forced to comply with the New World Leaders who are still our enemies? We need those former Allies to sell us their resources and manufactured items we need for our economic well-being. Cutting off scrap metal and oil from Japan may have caused their military to invade other countries and attack the U.S. Their military worked to make a huge ocean and land an economic zone. China is using billions of dollars to try to create one in the same places.

            History shows it is disastrous to be an island and once an island; it is difficult to break back out.

            A local auto body shop displayed on the sign in front of their shop these words: “One Nation Under God”. I thought how prosaic those words are but completely at odds with today’s life.

            More than fifty million Americans have no belief in any supernatural being. At least three times that number does not attend church regularly if ever. So much for “Under God”.

            “One Nation” is pretty much a dream since we may not have been so divided since the Civil War. We can only hope that the divisiveness in America will decline before it causes an irreparable split. It is difficult to see the split healing when a President and the radical members in the House and Senate work to excite a radical base they can’t control. No, we are far from a cohesive country.

            Yes “One Nation Under God” is just a dream that may never happen again in my lifetime unless some threat causes it.

            An old adage applies to many of today’s issues. The idea is if a person put a live frog in a pot with cool water and turn the heat on low, the frog would not notice the rising temperature. It would be boiled to death without noticing. Don’t try it!

            The Earth’s temperature is rising a few tenths of a degree each decade. We don’t seem to notice the rise because we have air conditioning and short memories. We can turn the heating off if we all work together now because time is short before bubbling.

            Another incremental mistake is slowly escalating the quality and technology of weapons we are giving Ukraine. Even when we have given them anti-aircraft weapons, they got short range shoulder-held ones which Putin countered with longer range aircraft mounted rockets. When they requested ground-to-ground rocket launchers we gave them four short range ones. They wanted longer range artillery so we gave them four. Ukraine’s Army is now into a war of attrition which they can’t win unless we give them the 300 mile rockets and more launchers and other equipment.

            Another example is the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe and then Justice Thomas listing all the other previous decisions they will overturn in coming years. He and others want the American culture to return to the 1950s. This incrementalism will not go gently and will be overturned in the future by American Opinion and new justices.

Reducing Strikes

            I am not anti-union but when a union conducts a strike which places the public in danger their leaders should be jailed and the members fined a meaningful amount. Those unions would include police, fire, medical, and education. Some others might fall into that category under certain conditions.

            I realize strikes of some sort have been used to gain a favorable contract for labor. Often the issues are safety but OSHA should be informed instead of holding a strike. Many strikes over pay are long enough that the strikers may take years to make up for lost pay.

            An alternate idea is for binding arbitration by a group or maybe a hundred people of which both sides would pick two with them picking the fifth as chair. The leaders of both sides would present their sides’ views without lawyers to object and hide the facts.

            There are lots of advantages to the global economy because international trade is needed for a viable world economy. We import lots of needed things and a huge pile of junk we could do without.

            The huge problem with a global economy is how easy a country can be blackmailed or extorted. Take the Ukraine as a current example. Russia is the prime supplier for natural gas for Germany and much of Europe. If Russia invades Ukraine, can we move enough LNG in tankers to make up for Russia cutting off supplies? Of course Russia could quit selling oil driving the cost up to prices never seen before.

            Let’s say we have a problem with China invading Taiwan where much of the world’s computer chips are made. Imagine no cars, refrigerators, or any other high tech devices needing a chip. In a few years new chip plants here will make America self sufficient in chips. Very rare earths we never heard of are used to make steel and aluminum better and many other things usable. We can’t do without those earths now or in the future.

            Among the things both countries need from us is food. Our farmers supply millions of tons of grain and meat which would be very difficult to replace.  China’s economy would be destroyed even more than ours since whole regions are based on exporting things to America.

            Conflicts occurring within a global economy are a two-edged sword. Both get hurt badly.

            Is ‘individual rights’ in the eye of the beholder when it is a senator making the decision? During the December 5 Meet the Press show, the host Chuck Todd asked the question of Indiana Republican Senator Mike Braun who says, “The abortion issue should be decided by the states and not the federal government.”

            When Chuck Todd asked him about Federal mandates on getting a Covid 19 shot, Senator Braun said it is up to the individual to make that decision; not Biden. Chuck Todd then asked, “Since the majority wants abortions to be available, why should the state make that decision for the woman?” Sensing the conflict in his stance, Senator Braun replied, “The two don’t compare.”

            Senator Braun’s conflict is he wants to be the one to decide when people of Indiana can have an individual right on any issue.