Peace Through Strength

There is a sad irony going on in the world today…  America, once a great and powerful nation was both loved and feared.  We had one "equal" and that was the Soviet Union. When the USSR fell apart it left us…the U.S.  We only needed to rattle a saber and bad guys often just stopped whatever nefarious deeds they were doing and scattered.  Things were good.  Good not just for us but really for the rest of the world.  We, while we sure could have been, were not bullies.  Just because we COULD be if we chose -- we often got labeled as such.  We weren't. They were jealous.

This power brought peace…not just here but all over.  It isn't because you USE your might that brings about good behavior -- it is because you COULD.  The military was a fighting force -- not a humanitarian force.  But because it was so mighty it brought the world more humanity.  

As this nation creeps closer and closer to mediocrity and to being just one of many like us, our ability to feed the starving, to help the oppressed and to be the do-gooders that we have always been, is slipping away. In our power and benevolence we have fed more people, aided more nations and done more good than any nation on earth in our short 230+ year lifetime. We are mere children on the planet. There are nations that have existed for twice, three, four times our life that have done nary a fraction of what we have done. We were able to do all this good because we were powerful.

As our strength wanes we continue to TRY to be the leader and the feeder of the world…and in doing so we are neglecting our own.  We are sending billions of dollars in aid abroad and we can't pay our own bills. If a parent allows herself to starve to death by giving all of the food to her child, who will feed the child when she is dead?

There is no such thing as global peace through agreement -- stop even imagining it.  We are animals and we all have self interested motivations.  There will always, I mean ALWAYS be a nation or faction fighting to be on top -- the ONLY way to keep that in check is to be on top and to gently kick them off the ladder they are scrambling up.  We will never be able to call them down from the bottom by negotiating. 

Europe has been a negotiator for a good long time and Europe is weak.  They look good and it looks appealing that they all sort of get along -- but in a sense they have to.  They share borders; they are geographically vulnerable to one another.  We are not.  Even when Europe is lamenting that the US has too much power we need to let them vent and go about our business.  The only reason they have the freedom to lament is because we had the power to let them. It is because we were mighty that they are not all speaking German.  How quickly we forget.

The United States of America needs to get back to the basics of lifting weights, eating right and getting enough sleep.  We need to let the world have their skirmishes because they will.  We need to regain a single mindedness that we are #1!  Notre Dame doesn't go into a bowl game saying "we are number #1 but let's all just decide we can all be #1".  Being #1 allows us to be both the mighty force we must be and the benevolent care giver we want to be.

On this anniversary of the attacks on the United States let's all get together for a single cause.  Let's all decide that we want a strong coach, a powerful leader who puts our nation first.  Let's all step back and look at the formula that will produce the results we want.  Whether you are a global peace person or you simply like the idea that we can kick ass.  It is ONLY through power that we will get either… This is the only way that we can all get what we want… Think about it.