Bin Laden's death provides a turning point, if America will take it.
There is no question that the death of bin Laden is significant. But, how will things proceed from here? by Mark Vogl
(conservative)
Monday, May 2, 2011
There is no joy in the killing of Osama bin Laden. Like a murderer who goes to a death chamber for crimes committed, bin Laden's death is a combination of relief, justice, retribution, and remembrance. The sadness, terror, chaos. and personal insecurity of the attack on New York and Washington will always be with Americans who lived on that day. September 11th clearly has equaled Pearl Harbor in its long term effect on the United States of America. While we are not fighting a world war, maybe it would be better if we were. The cost of September 11th has been huge and continues to this day.
One cost has been the loss of individual freedom and the peace and tranquility which dominated American life. Today we stand on long lines at airports, taking off clothes, employing tens of thousands of government bureaucrats to pat us down. Today gasoline rises to 4 dollars a gallon because of continued US involvement in the Middle East, continued wars in nations there, and the refusal of the US government to allow the development of US resources. The terrorists have had an impact on America, a very costly one in terms of dollars and lost freedoms. And, a cost in terms of dealing with America's problems.
With the end of the Cold War (1945-1991), the United States had finally been liberated from its global commitment to lead and protect the free world. For a decade the US, mostly under the leadership of Bill Clinton, really did little to refocus our energies, the energies and resource which had been used in a global competition with a rival super power. Only after vetoing two attempts to balance the budget led by Newt Gingrich and the House Republicans, did Clinton finally sign a balanced budget. We started to move towards focusing on America, but George Bush who had publicly stated his opposition to "nation building" during his successful Presidential campaign, changed his mind after the tragedy of September 11th.
The world changed on that day. The Bush Presidency coalesced around that date. The hostility in the Middle East, the unending struggle between Israel and its Moslem - Arabic neighbors moved to the center of American foreign policy, and grew to dominate US life in every way. The expression "the tail wagging the dog" has no greater example than the relationship between Israel and the US from 1991 to today.
Meanwhile across the world nations in Europe, China, Russia, and in South America are working to use the United Nations to their own advantages, and against the United States. International and commercial interests have entered US national politics and through major financial contributions have become the more powerful influences on US policy. Under President Obama and the Democrats US energy development has stopped, economic growth has frozen. Unemployment has remained at around ten percent, but worse, one in three men are not working.
American military forces are now committed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
Obama's policies have been contrary to rebuilding the American economy. A call for higher taxes, blockage of development of our own energy reserves as gasoline prices rise over four dollars per gallon, failure to deal with illegal immigration and open borders with Mexico, all contribute to continued American failure.
Obama refuses to make a real decision concerning the Middle East.
As our economy stalls, our government's bills pile up and we move in the direction of bankruptcy, it's time for Americans to reconsider our role. We simply can't afford the Bush policy of world policeman and nation builder. We can't afford globalism and 4 dollar a gallon gasoline. We can't afford endless wars which truly are not making the world safer. That's not to say that radical Islam is not dangerous, it certainly is. But America cannot afford to battle it alone.
The death of Osama provides a breathing space, a time of reflection. An era may be over. It's time to reconsider our course, our priorities.
The American military is exhausted. At home, their commander in chief calls for cuts. No discussion of a draft has been started, but our manpower is reduced by casualties retirements, and the fatigue of repeated deployments. Technology can only do so much. In the end war is about boots on the ground. The expense of those boots on the ground require a political consensus in Congress, and that consensus is expensive. President Bush found that out, and President Obama is using that expense and need for consensus to structure a socialist America.
Continued military deployment establishes a foundation of government spending which is then leveraged (in order to maintain a majority of support in Congress) to build consensus for Obama Care, for huge deficit spending, for lifting the debt ceiling, and for pushing off the costs onto future generations. If the Republicans can accept a reduced international role for the US, including a withdrawal of the American military from Iraq and Afghanistan, than the stage will be set for massive cuts in federal spending and finally a rebuilding of the United States. But, if the Republicans will not see the need for withdrawal (and I very much doubt they will) than our future is dismal as we bankrupt the nation.
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