Threat Assessment
Deborah Venable
10/11/06
Whether
or not America will be able to stave off complete annihilation of the world as
we know it for another century should be the topic of most concern with our
government as well as our people. The water
has gotten so muddied that we can’t seem to see the sharks coming for us – but
they are there.
When
we think of potential threats to America, what goes through most Americans’
minds any more?
Back
in the decades immediately following World War II, the era of my own youth, the
threats and thoughts about threats all centered around nuclear holocaust – the
atomic bomb. We had used it to end the
war, which saved millions of lives and stopped the bloodletting of a warring
world in total turmoil. Not a single
American, who was honest with himself, was proud of the awful destruction
caused by our dropping “the bomb” on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but we were not in
that war for the reasons that our enemies were.
When
the tyrants began their unrelenting march on multiple continents for the
purpose of annihilating whole cultures of people and taking everything they had
as spoils of war, America did not offer herself up to personally defend the
underdogs, the innocents, and the ill equipped. Yes, we spent much of our vast wealth to help supply our allies
with tools and even volunteer personnel to fight the aggressors, but we
expected nothing in return. Those we
ended up conquering so completely deliberately pulled us into that war when
they purposely attacked us, literally as we slept.
American
blood was liberally spilled in that fight to stop tyranny in its tracks. Because we acted as we did in that war, our
future enemies would know that we, the American people, were a force to be
reckoned with if ever we were deliberately attacked on our own soil again.
From
that point we also realized that strong alliances with other nations who were
not receptive to the spread of tyranny should be forged if the weaker ones were
to have any hope to fight off the lurking menace of communist aggression.
But
America made a regrettable error when we aligned our military might and dollars
with organizations that sought to control our actions. Our actions didn’t need to be controlled
because we were not then, nor are we now imperialist in our hegemonic
efforts. We wish only to spread freedom
and a respect for human rights throughout as much of the world as wants to
receive it. We should only look to our
own unique heritage for answers to questions dealing with rules of engagement,
but we find ourselves immersed in a world government of “entangling alliances”
that have negated much of what we know works to win against evil.
In
the Cold War that ensued after World War II, our survival depended on that
message we had sent. The American
people were a force to be reckoned with if ever we were deliberately attacked
on our own soil. MAD worked with Soviet
Russia because they knew they would suffer a loss they could not recover from
if they used the terrible weapons in their arsenal against us, but they still
tested us at times. With the current
mindset in this country, I sometimes wonder if we would pass those tests today.
And
then came 911. That was more than a
test. Every day that passes seems to
add more failing grades to our report card.
As we falter in our resolve, we are sending a new message and our
enemies are reading it loud and clear.
I
realize that it is extremely hard for most Americans to give more than a
passing notice to world events or local concerns, but we should be a lot more
savvy to the way things are than any other nation on earth. Everything I see convinces me that we are
not. We have a public education system,
a mainstream media, and a self-serving political system that has all but
crippled our assessment skills and our abilities to protect ourselves from
eventual ruin.
Even
those of us who try to keep ourselves well informed are easily lead astray by
the bombardment of absurdity in any given week. While attention is focused on the absurd, knowledge of the
obvious is all too often forgotten, therefore, solutions to major problems are
ignored. A bit of humor on my website
comes to mind as an excellent illustration of what I am talking about here:
During a visit to a hospital for the mentally
infirm, a visitor asked the Director what the criterion was that defined
whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.
"Well," said the Director, "we fill up a bathtub; then we offer
a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty
the bathtub. "
"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use
the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."
"No," said the Director, "a normal person would pull the plug.
Do you want a bed by the wall or near the window?"
Now
while there are some who would not have to be offered the bed in the
institution, I fear that percentage of “plug pullers” would not come anywhere
close to outnumbering the bailers. The choice
of the obviously inferior implements is so absurd that it masks the solution to
the real problem.
Getting
back to our abilities at threat assessment, then, we can see why a broken
education system, misleading media, and a corrupt political system could mask
the obvious solution to keeping America secure and strong far into the
future. Reagan had it right when he
said, “trust but verify.” There are
good, workable components in every one of the three aforementioned “implements”
we have to work with, but the only thing we can trust is our own assessment –
verified by our own hard work.
So,
as we are bombarded by more and more absurdity in the coming weeks leading up
to the election, we must be able to look beyond those things meant to keep us
off our guard and seek the real solutions to the problems we will face now and
into the future. Our assessments must
be as accurate as possible, so we must question the obvious and trust ourselves
to make the right choices, while understanding what the results of those
choices could lead to.
Every
problem we face that could eventually bring about destruction to our way of
life hinges on one thing. Controlling
that one thing is the key to finding the “plug in the bathtub.” I know you must be thinking that it is time
to fix up my room by the window or the wall, but it really is that simple. You must know it too.
Taking
control of the financing – that is the only way to fix the problems caused by
irresponsibility, apathy, and self-serving ignorance. If we have problems with the choices our government
representatives make for us, it is because we unquestionably fund them. If you want more control of your own life,
you must have more control of your own money.
It is just that simple.
The
Democrats have made it clear that they WILL take more of that control away from
you if they are elected into a majority situation in Congress. That is their ONLY agenda. This is verifiable.
Let’s
not give all Republicans a free pass here either. The largest complaint among Republican constituency is the way
they have deviated from their Contract With America pledge as they came to Congressional power
back in the nineties. This probably
happened because too many of them tested the water and found that some
Republicans were just giving lip service to the call for leaner government when
it came to government programs that they might personally benefit from. The self-serving political system extends
into the governed as well as the governing, folks – it always has.
We
cannot successfully hitch up our belts while taking advantage of those yummy
desserts.
The
Democrat mantra of “tax cuts for the rich” has continued to mask the positive
results of tax cuts. Absurd. The only meaningful tax cuts are for the rich because they are the ones that pay the
most. An honest look at the economy
will show that given more of their own money to control the rich chose to pour
that money into investments, which fueled the growing economy. The truly rich rarely hide their money in
mattresses any more - they choose to put it to work for their futures.
Everyone,
especially the poor, benefit – unless they only wish to sit on their butts and
collect a government check for doing it.
Those are the only people who should be duped by the idea that the
government needs more of our money.
I
have heard some extremely intelligent people, (some even very rich) say that as
long as we have a deficit, we taxpayers should gladly pay more – our “fair
share” they call it.
No
we shouldn’t!
We
have a deficit for the same reason that most Americans are in debt up to their
eyebrows right now. We are spending far
more than we are earning. What usually
happens when we earn more is that we just spend more. It is a trap of our modern ignorance. We have been programmed to fall right into it and thus keep
feeding the monster that created it in the first place – too much government
glut!
If
Republicans had been smart, they would have made another Contract With America
before this election cycle was ever kicked off. They could have promised to do one of two things – either double
the previous tax cuts in the next Congressional session or better still
eliminate the IRS altogether by finally voting in the Fair Tax program.
I realize things have to happen incrementally – that is why I give them
a choice here. The first choice would
have done no harm and little good unless they also stated and stuck to a
tighter budget on government spending, but the second would have cinched their
ability to maintain control of governmental power for years to come. Remember, even the pittance of tax cuts they
usually come up with results in a windfall increase in government coffers, so
the Fair Tax would virtually wipe out any possibility of a deficit.
Are
there potential problems with this proposal?
Yes, of course. It certainly is
not perfect, but I believe it has more merit than anything else out there right
now. The potential problems would be
under the control of the voters without nearly as much of a possibility for
corruption as exists under the income tax system now. The biggest challenge would come in the weaning process for
average citizens who pay very little or no tax right now. That is the only reason for the built-in
problems with the Fair Tax proposal – the safety net for the poor. The maintenance of the safety net part will
still require too much bureaucratic tracking, but not nearly as much intrusion
as exists now.
The
price of doing business in America will see an immediate relief with the
institution of this replacement for hidden corporate taxes that now
exists. No more claims of government subsidies
through tax breaks to corporate bullies, no more government imposed ground
leveling for honest competition in the markets, and no more government
penalizing of fair and necessary profit taking
- all these things result in a stronger economy, a more satisfied work
force, and a much more moral business environment to pursue the American
Dream. Effort will result in a straight
percentage of success without passing through a filter of bureaucratic
allowances. We, the people, will supply
the only filter to business success or failure – the way it should be in a free
capitalist society.
When
American business can do well in America, international markets will not hold
such an attraction to those looking for loopholes. Invasion of foreign individuals and markets will not find such an
open door policy as exists now. We will
be more inclined to keep our eyes open to those who would wish us harm and see
them coming through the clear waters of trust with verification for our own
safety.
As
it stands now, our greatest enemies depend on our continuing to fund their
activities against us. We have handed
them our eventual demise on a silver platter, and most cannot even see it
because of government bickering over who needs to control our monetary choices.
China
is a determined enemy and by far our greatest
threat. It is also our greatest economic competitor. Our
country is overstocked with a glut of Chinese imports simply because there is
such a financial advantage for American business to utilize that market right
now. American industry has all but
dried up in the wake of trying to compete with this communist monster, yet the
immediate profitability of using the Chinese market is about as economically
sensible as accepting the value of using the labor of illegal aliens from
Mexico in place of the “more expensive” and “unwilling” labor of Americans. (Obviously the true economic sense of those
two things cannot be trusted because they cannot be verified.) But
both practices are being utilized as ultimately “most profitable.”
The
troublesome gnats that are the jihad terrorists will continue to plague us for
decades if we allow it. If we continue
to give ground to the war they started instead of fighting it as a war and
getting it over with, they will succeed at weakening our resolve to fight for
anything else – including our own continuing freedom. Americans must get on the same page with this war on terrorism –
which DEFINITELY includes the war in Iraq.
The
bad guys are intent on killing us – starting with our soldiers in Iraq and all
the good Iraqi people who are fighting so valiantly for their own freedom – but
certainly not ending there. When are
the American people going to get that fact through their thick heads? If people are so ignorant that they still
think we should have never engaged the Hussein Killing Regime three and a half
years ago and removed that strategically located danger to us and the rest of
the world, then they should start picking out their rooms by the windows or the
walls! Yet every day in this country
those who wish only to obtain more financial power in American government are
using a politicization of the Iraq war as their absurd distraction to achieve
that power. They back away from their
own assessments of Iraq made months and years before we engaged in the war. They play right into the enemy’s hands by
calling our president stupid and insisting on exactly what the enemy wants –
the American people to doubt their own wisdom in fighting the terrorists on
their own ground.
The
Korean threat is another annoying gnat buzzing around in America’s face. So is Iran.
These two nations are intent on joining the nuclear club and have made
no bones about their eventual goals when it comes to how far they will go to
prove that they ARE very real nuclear threats.
Let’s get one thing perfectly clear – they will only remain threats if
they can get away with it.
Today
I am hearing more and more people say such things as, “why shouldn’t other
nations have nuclear weapons if we have them?”
They insist on equating America’s nuclear power with that of despicable
rulers like North Korea’s Kim Jong-il and Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. Other nations DO have
nukes. Eight others to be exact. Among them, our old nemesis, Russia and of
course China.
I
am sick and tired of America being seen with the same moral equivalency as these
dangerous enemies and potential enemies.
And I am tired of the ignorance that refuses to recognize the necessity
of America to defend against evil intent.
Evil intent is out there in every jealous, tyrannical extremist seeking
only to unseat America as the world leader in freedom and human rights, in
economic growth and civilized human advancement, and finally in the
proliferation of peaceful human relations.
Those things are the representative hope that America has always offered
the world. We have NOT done it through
domination, imperialism or evil rule.
We do not force other nations to set aside their religion, their
royalty, or their customs in order to join our ideals for human advancement. We instead encourage individual advancement,
independent security, and self-rule – even after we have prevailed in war. Does anybody really think any other nation
on earth, if they achieved the power that we have, would be willing to live and
let live to the same extent that we do?
Ask Germany, Italy, and especially Japan how they would have handled
victory in World War II.
Too
many Americans have failed to give America enough credit as the unique and
amazing success in human advancement that it is. They concentrate on the imperfections that have occurred from
trying to be all things to all people to the detriment of our own culture. Evil still lurks and cannot be satiated with
good intent. The fact that we are hated
is not our fault – it is to our credit, because that hatred is spawned from
evil and ignorance.
We
have many absurd distractions plaguing our efforts to sort out real solutions
to our biggest problems at the present.
Political wrangling for power over how best to spend our money, how best
to control our every action, and how best to deceive us in pursuing our best
interests will dominate over the next few weeks.
We
hold the purse strings that control it all - and it ALL does come down to money
– our money. We must move heaven and
earth to gain back control of that money so that our decisions will be just
that – OUR decisions, and not those of self-serving representatives. We CAN pull the plug on the tub of
government spending before we all drown in wasteful spending and dangerous
apathy.
So
what do YOU wish to buy with your money?
Security and freedom, or a ticket to sit on your butt and let someone
else take care of your every need for the rest of your life, (by the window or
the wall, Sir, Madam)? Letting someone
else call the shots for you requires that you relinquish any control that you
think you have right now. Is that what
made America great? Or do you think
that the world would truly be better off without American influence?
Make
your choices wisely in November, and then hold their feet to the fire until
they start acting a lot more responsibly than they have in the past. It may be the last chance we have to make
the right choice.
Let’s
get the threat assessment straight in our minds and stop allowing absurd
choices to hide the obvious.