Sunday, November 29, 2009

Enemies , domestic and foriegn

As we race towards the close of another year it causes me to take pause and look at the world around us. While most people are preparing for the onslaught of the Christmas season their concerns primarily lay with who gets what and how much debt are they going to rack up in the process. Undoubtedly we will soon be hearing reports of how the merchants are disappointed with another slow selling cycle that they hinge so much of their future on. The concept of basing your financial security on the end of the year / holiday sales tallies has always been a strange concept to me. It is strange to me that so many merchants depend on the Christmas season for so much of their income. It seems to me that a long term strategy of slow reliable growth and security would ultimately be more beneficial than relying on the mad dash at the end of the race to win it for the year. It reminds me of the tortoise and the hare fable that use to be told to children. All to often we seem to be sleeping when we should be slowly moving forward and then think we can race to the finish and win the race. Unfortunately , like that children's precautionary tale, we learn the hard way that it is often to late to regain lost time. Life is like that in many important ways that we do not see , why because we are sleeping. I should say sleep walking because to often we move threw life only semi aware of the events going on around us.

The enemies of this country know this and exploit it at every chance they get. The ones internally eagerly help the public chant , USA - USA - we are #1, while they extend a leg out to help the country trip and fall. The ones outside the country lay in wait to eagerly swoop in and help put the final blows in to extinguish the lantern of freedom. Our nation has slowly been allowing those that would like to see us stumble get farther and farther ahead. Slowly one step at a time they trudge onward to the finish line hoping we will stay slumbering long enough for the lead to be to great for us to over come. The big question is , will this country wake up in time before it is to late. So with that being said, it's time to look around at some of the things that have been happening around us.
First we look East to the land of the rising sun and the Asiatic power house China. We use to worry about Japan and it's growing economic dominance. We should have been paying more attention to the sleeping dragon - China. We paid little attention to the every growing "Made in China" labels that were popping up on the products across the county. China is an ancient country that seeks long term dominance as a global super power. They look at our country with a combination of respect and envy at the accomplishments of the new kid on the block. The American Empire has been around a relatively short period of time. We are a mere two hundred and thirty three years old since we declared independence from Britain. More importantly we are a mere sixty five years old as a major global player after we took the world lead from Great Britain after world war two. We tend to forget these things. China, who has over a millennial under its belt as a national entity knows that nations rise and fall like tides all to well. They are preparing for the future, they have a strong financial position , over the years they have taken control of much of the shipping in the world , the US government has allowed Hutchenson-Wampoa (a company with strong ties to the Chinese government) control over the Panama canal as well as several of our own major ports. Not only do they control several of our major ports they are doing the scanning for Nuclear materials coming into our country! It's stupid to use the fox as the guard dog for the hen house! China during the Clinton administration walked off with our most sensitive nuclear secretes out of Los Alamo's and immediately started upgrading their programs and arsenal. Little by little China is preparing to challenge us at the top of the mountain for king of the hill.

Moving a little to the west we have Russia slipping back to it's communist roots and below that is India coming into it's own as a financial powerhouse. We also see the middle east , the home of the fastest growing religious base , Islam. Islam is the cousin of Christianity but has several off shoots of radical thought and violent tendencies. (not that Christianity doesn't have its share of violent off shoots) We are presently deeply embroiled in geopolitical battles in the middle east and this region will probably be where world war three starts.

Even farther westward lays Africa , another land of chaos that is often over looked and forgotten. The nations of the world look at Africa as a region to be exploited and used with little regard to it's inhabitants. North of Africa lays Europe, another sleeper powerhouse that is in the process of waking up. We are about to see Europe rise up in power to rival it's past glory as the European Union takes a firm hold on world affairs. Most people in the USA dismiss Europe as the old country that we had to go save from themselves in world war two. We to easily dismiss the fact that Europe has a long history that the USA itself sprang from. We dismiss the financial powers that have ruled from Europe and in our vanity we think we will continue on being number one, we can easily jump up and win the race. We need to wake up from our slumber before it is to late to make up lost ground.

Another childhood tale we should take stock in is the tale of the Ant and the grasshopper. The proverbial winter is about to set in, it's time to prepare now, before it's to late!

Those that wait for us to stumble are many, we do have allies in the world but even some of those seek more power for themselves. To often money is the driving force that fuels the engines of change. Nations often struggle for power as dogs fight for scraps and bones. Often these battle are orchestrated for the benefit of the few at the expense of the many (or millions). The world we live in is a volatile place and if we like it or not the power base is on the verge of shifting. The world is close to unhinging from the dollar as the reserve currency and if that happens all bets are off on what can happen next. America is the melting pot of the world and there in lays our greatest strength and hope. Hopefully we will not stumble or be tripped up so that we fall ,for if we do we don't know if the hand coming at us is there to help us up or slap us down farther.

We can learn a lot from the wisdom of childhood tales, they were given to us to teach us something we often seem to lack - common sense.

Just food for though
LascoX

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