What is this about really?
Are we somehow conflating this withdrawal with the idea of America
as a superpower? Is it about American
Exceptionalism and the idea that we have lost our innocence? Is this something
that we will use to justify what we are doing in the world; where we are going,
and what we want to be known for in the world? Just asking what we want to
stand would be a good start in terms of questions going forward.
This may be a conversation that needs to be had in the coming
years. All of the talk,
and the hopes and
aspirations were discussed and mapped out before being put into the small 21st
Century online political group that was created in 2017. The thoughts &
ideas came from a hopeful take on the dark reflections seen in the election of
Trump in 2016. Are we a country and a people that are even capable of building
a better tomorrow? We need to be able to
have this serious talk with Allies and others of good will;
The media seems to be on the other side of history. It’s not
exactly the wrong side, but they are looking through the wrong lens or looking
at the wrong vision. What should they be asking instead of obsessing over the
comparisons to Vietnam? What will the rest of the 21st Century look like? Will
the media be looking back on the mistakes of the past and turning us all into
pillars of salt? Should we be looking for a cybersecurity threat and the world
of dark money and bitcoin? What will our true threats entail?
Is it primarily about climate change? Is it the inner dissent
and internal strife where we collapse from within? Is it a Global Pandemic that
wipes out more of us than any war could have done? What exactly should we be
doing to move forward in this century? The last twenty years have been spent
looking backward. We are getting ready to commemorate the twentieth anniversary
of 9/11. So much of our treasure and blood has been buried in the sand of
foreign shores where we have no stake or future in the outcome of the country.
It’s been argued that we have troops overseas and we should
have left troops in Afghanistan. Those troops in Europe and Japan were on
friendlier ground with allies that didn’t threaten the safety of the people
stationed there daily. Yes, we have great carrier ships that can now deploy
planes and kill and hit targets all around the world. And that seems to be the
legacy of what the billions can buy us when we have the greatest military
buildup in history. We find the military superiority cannot prevent Pandemics
or cyber attacks. Madelyn. Albright once asked Colin Powell a question. We have
this fabulous military, she said, “ What are we saving it up for? What is the
point?!”
What is the threat of the future? What will be the best
investment-the best ROI-for our people as we continue to be known as the
policemen of the world. And what is the vision that America has for the 21st
Century?
We hear so much of failures to predict the present chaos in
Afghanistan. We hear it being compared to the fall of Saigon and the evacuation
from the roof of the embassy that was almost half a century in the past. But what
does our future look like?
In fighting the future wars, does America invest in the right
equipment? Should it be a cyber war that puts us in the realm of the Matrix
universe? Should we go all-in and invest in the future of women & girls to
build up our good will going forward? What are the right questions to ask? Is it in
our interest to work with traditional allies? Should we invest to counter
China’s narrative of building infrastructure in third world countries. Is it
vital to invest in their mining and precious minerals? Or should we invest more
in space and the idea of a ’Space Force” that far-right forces encouraged in
order to enrich the coffers of billionaires and corporate overlords?
Is it going to continue to be a scenario of a dying middle
class with a world ruled by corporate overlord and billionaires? What is in the
national interest of a superpower? Are
we defining ourselves as the only remaining superpower? What does define a
superpower? Is it the greatest military on Earth? Or does it lie in
humanitarian efforts? The Pentagon was forward thinking enough to start looking
at the problems of climate change and to transfer from a fossil fuel
dependence. Yet one General just finished describing in the same breath, both
the humanitarian principles and causes for which we fight, and then describing
the ‘warrior’ mentality where all soldiers are described as brave warriors.
Are we a continuation of the Spartan tradition? Fight with your
sword & shield and come home either with your shield or on it. To the
death…The mentality persists…
We are the champions of the world. What does that mean? In a
far-off imagined future, the science fiction realm imagined a United Earth
Federation. It was not simply a United Nations with some toothless policies
where diplomats gather to jaw and spin a desired outcome. Would it entail an
alliance of like-minded city states or developed and advanced societies that
would come together to form a more perfect union? That seems to be more science
fiction than reality given the current political climate!
But in reality, the United Nations now has a goal of 17 Sustainable
Development Goals. They are points of light if you will, to try and lift all
nations out of poverty and bring a middle class mentality and ethos into being
for the entire planet. It includes environmental protection policies as well as
emphasis on farming, agriculture, plus the advancement of education for women
and girls and all countries.
Where does this begin and end? Are we even capable of asking
the right questions? And what will the future hold for those who are not
capable of looking forward? Are we all fated to be the pillars of salt that
Vonnegut lamented when he wrote in “Slaughterhouse Five’ of looking back in
sorrow at the horrors of the Dresden bombing in WW II? Is that all we are capable of at this point
in history? Looking back as pillars of salt at the Embassy rooftop in Saigon
almost half a century ago?
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