Wobbly America

There are two major things threatening our country... No, wait. There are three major things bearing down on our nation... Scratch that, hold on a sec. There are four major things putting pressure on this republic... Oh for heaven's sake we've got problems, OK.

The way I see it among the many "challenges" facing the good 'ol US of A the top four in no particular order are: Global (Islamic) Terrorism, China, Education and Illegal Immigration. Only two of them are we in any kind of agreement that there is actually a problem and for neither of them do we have a consensus on how to solve them. The answers, of course, are not easy, they never are, but we if we ignore them and go about tending to our own little lives we run a risk of literally ending this 230 year old experiment we call America.

- Terrorism
Well, if 9/11 didn't wake you up to this peril then you're already beyond hope. I think both the left and the right do recognize this as a serious threat, yet the approach each side has taken couldn't be more diametrically opposed. One side looks inward and asks "why do they hate us? surely we must be at fault..." It's the battered wife syndrome all over again. The other side realizes, quite correctly, that the only thing a wife beater understands is the collective force of the law coming down on him. The terrorist does not respect handwringers but he will respect a bunker buster and a daisy cutter. The George W. Bush led War On Terror has been to date a mitigated success, don't let the mainstream media try to fool you on this one. We have come a long way since the the impotent days of Clinton administration.

- Education
Here we have consensus that a problem exists - no one can look past this ugly wart. The education of our youth is in a dismal state. Yet the liberals see the boogyman as being lack of funding and the threat posed by vouchers and private or home schooling. Throw money at the problem, reduce those class sizes, bring in counselors and psychiatrists and don't forget the condoms and AIDS education for 1st graders. This approach is, of course, what brought public schools to this sorry sate in the first place. The whole model of public education is broken. Even in socialist Europe they have kept control of the school systems in local hands. It is interesting that private and home schooled kids are reaching academic levels on par with the best educated youth in the world. The answer is to get back to the basics and hold schools accountable. This is something The President has pushed for but the compromises forced on him by the Washington way has so diluted the implimentation as to render it useless. Primary education, I'm afraid will continue its downward spiral until the the stranglehold of teacher's unions and state bureaucrats is broken. God help us on that one. As for secondary education - colleges and university - I fear there is no hope for this cabal of socialist indoctrinantion.

- China
Just try to buy shoes, clothes, electronic gadgets of a whole list of everyday consumer items that don't say made in China. Yeah, so, what's the problem? Why are we giving our country away to a communist totalitarian slave labor state? Why is the American business man ignoring the peril that is looming as America watches the Chinese lie, cheat and steal everything that has made us the greatest economic power the world has ever seen? Short term thinking? Stockholder pressure? A quick buck? Yes... These clever Chinese even attach the value of their currency to ours so that we can never make up the imbalance in trade, an inbalance that is nearly beyond comprehension.

Beyond just the economic threat ( a threat American business does not fear and the American government will not address) the quiet rise of Chinese global dominance goes unchallenged. The Chinese have been buying up parts of the Canadian economy for years. They have strong ties with Cuba and many South American states and of course they took "possesion" of the Panama Canal (which the American taxpayer built) from Jimmy Carter in the late 70's. They are building a military machine to rival ours and American consumers are paying for it. Soon Europe will end its weapons embargo and France and Germany will help arm them for a conflict with us.

Yet the American media all but ignore this very real threat. The government seems to be going out of its way to accomodate Chinese grand designs. American business is actively aiding China for a quick buck and a rosy balance sheet. I know it is not as simple as all that, but almost no one seems alarmed. I guess we can only hope that a rising middle class in China will transform the communist government... and one day pigs will have wings.

- Illegal Immigration
It used to be that people came to America to become Americans... (pause for reflection)

Hats off to Michelle Malkin, Lou Dobbs (of CNN no less) and the Arizona Minutemen for keeping this issue in front of the public, Heaven knows the mainstream media mostly ignores it. Today we have the government in Mexico literally coaching their citizens on how to cross the border and break our laws. Our resources (dollars) are being fereted out to support a desparate population failed by their own national government. Isn't that tantamount to an invasion and plundering? With our very sovereignty at risk we ask how can this be tolerated by our government in Washington DC? An what about the statehouses? California is fast becoming a defacto Mexican state. Where is this all going to lead? Better question: where is the leadership?

If the right wingers call for a crack down on the border, or support the Minutemen, or oppose welfare privileges for illegals, or push English-only legislation we are called racists. Talk show host Michael Medved points out the folly in trying to "round them up" to send them all back to Mexico. Therefore he favors something like the President's plan to issue temporary worker status for the illegals. This could be made palatable if there was a serious and credible effort by the federal government to stop the border crossings. So far, Washington's response has been far too meager, mere lip service really. The left oppose anything the right wants to do whether it's good policy or not just to deprive the right of any success. I find this more appalling than the half-hearted effort from the right. I'm not sure I buy the adage that the conservatives want the cheap labor for business and the liberals wants the support of the downtrodden illegal aliens. I cannot speak for the left - it seems they want to weaken America in any way they can. As for the right, well, they've gone wobbly on this issue. This is an issue that will eventually come to a head - it simply has to.

I do not want to come off using illegal Mexican immigrants as a whipping boy for all that ails us, we are not Nazi Germany, but common sense dictates that we cannot as a nation continue to permit this blatant disregard for our laws. How long can a nation, any nation, retain its sovereignty if it will not defend its own laws?

CW