The Alternative

By: 
Fritz Groszkruger

Not our fight, again

Well, it's crisis time again (to paraphrase the great Ray Charles). All over the papers and on the news the Russians are coming and we better have a meeting of diplomats.

Really? Are we so bored that we've got to instigate the overthrowing of elected governments because of a nostalgic notion that the Cold War was some kind of precious time in history? First we lionize Ronald Reagan for ending it (he didn't), then we miss it so bad we dream up a new one. Let's make up our minds.

To me, the Cold War was a beautiful thing while hot wars are not. We would have drills in school where we all hid under our desks and faced away from the windows so we could live another day to die from radiation poisoning.

Basically nothing happened anyway. MAD was the key to peace. MAD stood for mutually assured destruction. No leader would dare push that red button because then the other leader would do the same. And there was probably something each had to look forward to that day. However, the leader didn't give a darn about the things their soldiers had to look forward to. So he sent them off on little adventures to kill or be killed for no good reason. Now we buy shrimp from Vietnam but prefer the tastier stuff from the Gulf Coast when we can find it.

Even though the Cold War was not so cold in Korea and Vietnam, stateside things were pretty mellow; at least compared to the world wars that our leaders had foisted on our parents and grandparents.

Although it is politically incorrect to say so, Germany or Japan were never going to invade and rule the United States. We had a geographical advantage that could never be overcome and limited gun control. Our problem was allies.

George Washington recognized this and warned in his farewell address of the dangers of foreign entanglements, especially with Europe. He warned that friendly nations as well as hostile ones would try to use American treasure for their own benefit. Now please consider what we have received in return for the alliances we have formed.

It used to be the rest of the world looked toward America as a model of prosperity and freedom. No wait. That would be freedom, then prosperity. Now they look toward Switzerland. In Switzerland everyone has a gun. They refused entry into the European Union. They are independent and neutral. They are not invaded and they do not spend even a tiny fraction of the amount we do on (so-called) defense. Even without the giant moats of ocean we enjoy.

With our President and his Secretary of State making fools of themselves with empty threats and hypocrisy, and their underlings meddling in places they don't belong, we are now the laughing stock of the world.

We've removed secular governments where dictators enabled stability and made them vulnerable to be taken over by radical Islamists. Then we act horrified when our diplomats are hung out to dry in places like Benghazi, where they should not have ever been in the first place. We ignore Iraq, because where Al-Qaeda was Saddam Hussein's sworn enemy, they now rule the roost. My sister traveled to Egypt before our covert ops tried to establish democracy there. She was safe. What kind of fool would travel where American intervention has ruined relative peace at this point?

My dad, who flew a B-29 over Tokyo in 1945 said, “We need to rethink foreign policy. We need a goal and a plan.”

A strong national defense does not involve meddling in the affairs of other countries. That sort of thing dilutes our ability to defend ourselves and is an insult to our men and women charged with that defense.

A corrupt Russian government can never be a threat to a non-corrupt American one. But our meddling in Ukraine is a symptom of corruption, not strength. We should get out of Europe and stay out of Europe, while allowing any American to trade there as they please and at their own risk.

Contact Fritz at 4selfgovernment@gmail.comor visit his blog (now updated daily) at www.alternativebyfritz.com

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