84 years ago America discovered the inevitable consequence of isolationism: an attack on American soil. Pearl Harbor dragged us into a war we never wanted. It was "domestic issues should come first" it was "their problem" until it wasn't. We fed our own delusion so long we ran out of food for it, and then it turned to us and kept eating.
While we didn't want to get into WW2, in the long run it was one of the largest economic wins in human history. The boomer generation benefited greatly from being born in the only country left standing with industrial capacity, Europe spent decades paying off loans to us, and the fresh memory of WW2 kept the cold war from becoming hot, leading to another "peace dividend" in the 90s.
Today we face these same pressures to withdraw from international affairs. Ukraine? Taiwan? Not our problem. Wars start small, they usually start with a couple small countries, then continue to attract one country, then another, continuing to escalate, until one country with enough power to crush them all enters the arena and tells them to cut it out. There has to be an adult in the room, the laws of power are clear, ancient, and unyielding.
That country is America. That country is also China. If we abandon our position, it will only be China. Whatever the consequences and costs of being involved in international affairs is, I assure you that having only China at the helm is worse. There are options between total abandonment of our position and continuing to choose to be the world police, we should explore them.
Thank you to those who gave their lives, their families, and their future so we could have a free one.
#politics #pearlharbor #china #ukraine #taiwan #ww2
The confusing part about staying at motel 6 is that at any moment you could become part of a gang shootout and you don't even know which gang you're supposed to be fighting for. Like I came here wearing orange, who wants me on their team? What do you mean this city doesn't have a third uptown disciples orange crew? #travel