It bears repeating. Don't screw with America.
Why is it even necessary to say
something like that? When, exactly, did
we become something less than exceptional?
When did we lose the stuff I'll call "guts"? Where did we turn from the road of the
shining city on the hill to the garbage dump?
Yeah, I could say that it began with the current president...but it
didn't. It might very well end with him,
because of his extreme views on some things and dithering on others, but it's
been brewing for a long time.
America came out of World War
Two the mightiest power on earth. We
armed the world during the war, we fed a lot of the world after the war, and we
developed things that seemed marvelous back then, but are taken for granted
now. What the devil happened to America?
My political affiliation changed
when this president was running for the office.
It was clear, at least to me, that he did not have any idea of what to
do, how to do it, or when to do it. A
perfect campaigner, sure...but once you get the job you'd better know how to do
it, or at the very least, have competent advisors. Every president should have a cadre of people
that he can depend on, and, ideally, they should all have the welfare of the
country as their first priority. It
hasn't worked out that way with this administration. Oh sure, we've had cheaters, liars, and
less-than-brilliant men in the Oval Office...but I believe they had the
country's welfare at heart.
America was, and might still be, the
most powerful in the world, so why is it that we are so far down the list when
it comes to respect...or fear? We, as
Americans, used to be able to travel anywhere in the world and feel safe. Not so anymore. Now, Americans are targets, for killing, for
kidnapping, or as political pawns. When,
exactly, did we give up the position of top dog? There is no way I would travel anywhere
outside the United
States anymore. There is no country, including England, that could give me the sense
of security that I used to have when traveling.
Speaking of England, it's interesting that the
public there is slowly, but surely, rebelling against the stealth jihad of the
Muslims...but that's a whole other story.
From time to time the question is
posed, "where are our leaders"? There
is no one in the government today, at least not in the administration, that
anyone could point to and say that's a great leader. What a sad state of affairs that is, that no
one stands out. My time in the Navy
gave me a rather salty vocabulary, but one thing that I can say is the title,
DON'T
SCREW WITH AMERICA. Maybe
that still holds true for events outside this country, but are we screwing
ourselves,
from
within? With all the scandals, and you
can go back to Watergate and Nixon, the power of the White House seems to
corrupt the occupants to the point where each of them has a notable
scandal.
Few
seem to have escaped, and I suspect that might be because we just didn’t dig
deep enough. Going back, there’s
Eisenhower and Truman, and those two seem to be the only ones that escaped any
scandal…at least while in office.
This
isn’t supposed to be a retrospective look at our chief executives, and there’s
lots that could be said about each of them, but rather, let’s examine why the
world, and I, see the United
States as a fading power.
Militarily we’re being
weakened. Politically we’ve been
weakened. Economically we’ve been
weakened. Those three things are
boiling in the pot now but remember, a pot doesn’t start boiling instantly. These lessenings have been in the works for
decades, but they started boiling under, and with the help of, the current
president. Because he doesn’t have a
clue, he’s exacerbated the problems.
Because of his humongeous ego, he truly believed, and still does, that he
could charm all our enemies into cooperating with us. It didn’t work.
My fondest wish is to see a
president of the caliber of JFK, one who will say, as he did, Let every nation know, whether it wishes us
well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of
liberty.
In
other words, folks,
don’t screw with America because we’re from hardy
stock, and we don’t take kindly to being pushed
around.
Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired www.AirHumanityRadio.net
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