What Happens If America Fails?
What happens if America fails? Think about it for a moment. What happens if America fails. By that I don't mean, "What happens if health care doesn't pass?" or "Do you think the Republicans can take back the House in 2010?" What I mean is, what happens if America fails in its obligation to serve as the leader of the free world?
In the year 1776, in a city that was first settled in the 1600's by the British and came to be known as Philadelphia, the Founding Fathers signed their own death warrants in the hope that humanity might become a little better because of what they had learned. It is perhaps the most inspiring moment in human history. A group of 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence because through their thorough study of history and bitter experience, these men came to understand that whatever greatness once possessed by the British Empire was gone, and the need for something new was urgent. These men waged war in an effort to create the nation, conceived in liberty, in which they truly hoped to live. This is very difficult for some people to comprehend, the idea that through war, it is possible, though likely not probable, that good things can spring forth from the blood-stained soil.
But it is inarguable fact that for over 200 years America has served as a force for the betterment of humanity, though admittedly America has behaved in awful ways that have served to slow this forward momentum. I'll not list these things but instead just stipulate they exist. Dangerously missing from the current political discourse of American backpatting and backpedaling is humility in the face of the fact that though the American people have done great things to advance humanity, humanity has not yet come to be defined by the inherent goodness of the American people. And the fact that there is never a guarantee that the things we do, regardless of our very best intentions, will leave humanity better off after we have passed on. There is no guarantee that passing another entitlement program that will cost this nation an incomprehensible sum of money will make it, and human progress in general, any better. And isn't that what we should be focusing on? Isn't that the real purpose of America's leadership in the world?
There is no guarantee that if we sit back and let the insane monsters of Iran get their fingers on a nuclear-tipped trigger that Western civilization will continue to exist at all.
There is no guarantee that if we dither on Iran that Israel will not.
There is no guarantee that if we stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons that China will not start calling in IOU's that we cannot repay. And because of that, there is no way of knowing how China will respond in the event we default on our debt.
There is no guarantee that if China doesn't hasten America's death through economic means that they won't seek to achieve it militarily if we default on our debt.
There is no guarantee that if an American president is forced to hand over American territory as a result of our debt default that its American citizens will not be forcibly relocated, slaughtered, or some combination of both as further retaliation for our destructive fiscal attitudes and behaviors.
There are some who cannot conceive of a future of forced labor camps and nuclear holocaust. They believe that we're past all that. They cannot conceive of the worst of humanity because they see the best in it. They see all of the good things that America has done for humanity and assume that everything they do in the name of progress will actually further the cause of real human progress. On the other hand, there are many who realize that even though we have achieved forward progress today there is no guarantee it won't be reversed tomorrow. We know this because awful things are happening in this world right now, awful things happened not too long ago and awful things have been happening all the way back to the birth of the human race. And because we truly understand the founding philosophy that birthed the great and good American republic, we understand that our rejection of it has set us upon a path that the framers of the Constitution warned us against. We know that it's iPhone's, HDTV's and video games today, but maybe it's nuclear holocaust and unspeakable terror tomorrow. Maybe it's all nonsense. Maybe you can dismiss it as the ravings of a right-wing lunatic. But what if it's not? The point is, there's no guarantee. And it's time our conduct reflected reality.
There is no guarantee that we will wake up tomorrow as free men and women because of the things our elected officials are doing right now. There is no guarantee because our elected officials are in the process of allowing lunatics to acquire nuclear weapons, and those lunatics will not be afraid to use them. These are the same elected officials who are currently selling the country off as spare parts to pay for their next big government scheme that will hasten America's bankruptcy while temporarily and dangerously relieving the American people of their inherent responsibilities as the stewards of the free world. There is no guarantee that we'll be sitting around in 50 years watching superhuman athletes on better televisions with our kids and grandchildren while we communicate telepathically and teleport to our neighbor's house for a beer, because if history has taught us anything at all, it has taught us that while humanity is capable of wondrously miraculous things it is also capable of extraordinarily horrific ones.
Six hundred years ago, the Spanish government attempted a campaign of forced conversion, forced relocation, and mass murder against the Jewish people. Sixty years ago, the German government attempted a thorough genocide of the Jewish people.
Two hundred years ago, Islam declared war on the United States and forced our newborn government to pay tribute or face the capture and murder of our merchant ship crews. Eight years ago, a group of radicalized Islamic terrorists murdered 3,000 Americans on a brisk, clear September morning in continuance of their hostility against the American people.
Somehow, humanity just can't seem to fully reject its capacity for the most awful things and fully embrace its capacity for wondrous miracles. For whatever reason, and like it or not, the United States of America inherited the mantle of world leadership and with it the responsibility to ensure humanity's progress, and we are squandering it quite spectacularly. If America can't pay its bills and concurrently cedes its status as (gulp) the world's lone superpower by punting allies and embracing enemies, what then? What if the American experiment ends abruptly, a day the Mullahs of Iran hope to hasten through their acquisition of weapons of mass destruction? What if there is no longer a force for good in the world, one capable of checking humanity's worst excesses whenever and wherever it can?
What then?
In the year 1776, in a city that was first settled in the 1600's by the British and came to be known as Philadelphia, the Founding Fathers signed their own death warrants in the hope that humanity might become a little better because of what they had learned. It is perhaps the most inspiring moment in human history. A group of 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence because through their thorough study of history and bitter experience, these men came to understand that whatever greatness once possessed by the British Empire was gone, and the need for something new was urgent. These men waged war in an effort to create the nation, conceived in liberty, in which they truly hoped to live. This is very difficult for some people to comprehend, the idea that through war, it is possible, though likely not probable, that good things can spring forth from the blood-stained soil.
But it is inarguable fact that for over 200 years America has served as a force for the betterment of humanity, though admittedly America has behaved in awful ways that have served to slow this forward momentum. I'll not list these things but instead just stipulate they exist. Dangerously missing from the current political discourse of American backpatting and backpedaling is humility in the face of the fact that though the American people have done great things to advance humanity, humanity has not yet come to be defined by the inherent goodness of the American people. And the fact that there is never a guarantee that the things we do, regardless of our very best intentions, will leave humanity better off after we have passed on. There is no guarantee that passing another entitlement program that will cost this nation an incomprehensible sum of money will make it, and human progress in general, any better. And isn't that what we should be focusing on? Isn't that the real purpose of America's leadership in the world?
There is no guarantee that if we sit back and let the insane monsters of Iran get their fingers on a nuclear-tipped trigger that Western civilization will continue to exist at all.
There is no guarantee that if we dither on Iran that Israel will not.
There is no guarantee that if we stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons that China will not start calling in IOU's that we cannot repay. And because of that, there is no way of knowing how China will respond in the event we default on our debt.
There is no guarantee that if China doesn't hasten America's death through economic means that they won't seek to achieve it militarily if we default on our debt.
There is no guarantee that if an American president is forced to hand over American territory as a result of our debt default that its American citizens will not be forcibly relocated, slaughtered, or some combination of both as further retaliation for our destructive fiscal attitudes and behaviors.
There are some who cannot conceive of a future of forced labor camps and nuclear holocaust. They believe that we're past all that. They cannot conceive of the worst of humanity because they see the best in it. They see all of the good things that America has done for humanity and assume that everything they do in the name of progress will actually further the cause of real human progress. On the other hand, there are many who realize that even though we have achieved forward progress today there is no guarantee it won't be reversed tomorrow. We know this because awful things are happening in this world right now, awful things happened not too long ago and awful things have been happening all the way back to the birth of the human race. And because we truly understand the founding philosophy that birthed the great and good American republic, we understand that our rejection of it has set us upon a path that the framers of the Constitution warned us against. We know that it's iPhone's, HDTV's and video games today, but maybe it's nuclear holocaust and unspeakable terror tomorrow. Maybe it's all nonsense. Maybe you can dismiss it as the ravings of a right-wing lunatic. But what if it's not? The point is, there's no guarantee. And it's time our conduct reflected reality.
There is no guarantee that we will wake up tomorrow as free men and women because of the things our elected officials are doing right now. There is no guarantee because our elected officials are in the process of allowing lunatics to acquire nuclear weapons, and those lunatics will not be afraid to use them. These are the same elected officials who are currently selling the country off as spare parts to pay for their next big government scheme that will hasten America's bankruptcy while temporarily and dangerously relieving the American people of their inherent responsibilities as the stewards of the free world. There is no guarantee that we'll be sitting around in 50 years watching superhuman athletes on better televisions with our kids and grandchildren while we communicate telepathically and teleport to our neighbor's house for a beer, because if history has taught us anything at all, it has taught us that while humanity is capable of wondrously miraculous things it is also capable of extraordinarily horrific ones.
Six hundred years ago, the Spanish government attempted a campaign of forced conversion, forced relocation, and mass murder against the Jewish people. Sixty years ago, the German government attempted a thorough genocide of the Jewish people.
Two hundred years ago, Islam declared war on the United States and forced our newborn government to pay tribute or face the capture and murder of our merchant ship crews. Eight years ago, a group of radicalized Islamic terrorists murdered 3,000 Americans on a brisk, clear September morning in continuance of their hostility against the American people.
Somehow, humanity just can't seem to fully reject its capacity for the most awful things and fully embrace its capacity for wondrous miracles. For whatever reason, and like it or not, the United States of America inherited the mantle of world leadership and with it the responsibility to ensure humanity's progress, and we are squandering it quite spectacularly. If America can't pay its bills and concurrently cedes its status as (gulp) the world's lone superpower by punting allies and embracing enemies, what then? What if the American experiment ends abruptly, a day the Mullahs of Iran hope to hasten through their acquisition of weapons of mass destruction? What if there is no longer a force for good in the world, one capable of checking humanity's worst excesses whenever and wherever it can?
What then?
posted by The Rock | 7:02 PM
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