BloggeRhythms 3/22/2011

I have no particular axe to grind today, just a couple of comments about the shape the world seems to be in and our place therein.

I remember some years ago when Pat Buchanan was trying to run for the presidency and most wrote him off as some kind of oddball who looked at our place on the planet quite differently than others. And one of his beliefs was that the U.S. ought to shore up its borders, reduce or eliminate most of its international relationships and focus on ourselves. As I recall , he rightly said that this country has more than enough resources to self sustain and that just about every time we try to help some other nation we pay an outrageous price for our efforts and gain just about zero.

Now, whether I've remembered his positions precisely, or even come close to his point, I think he's absolutely right.

It seems to me that we always perform as the good guy, try to help others out and in one way or another, wind up holding the bag. And all you need do to confirm that supposition is watch the news, particularly the business related channels.

Japan has an earthquake and tidal wave and our stock market takes a huge hit. At the same time, since they'll likely be using less fuel while they recover, because they'll have fewer vehicles on whatever roads they have left, the price of oil blips down. Then Libyan rebels decide to revolt and oil prices start to climb toward the roof because speculators believe supply from Libyan wells will shrink.

Japan is also the largest consumer of fish in the world. So, since their waters are likely contaminated, worldwide fish prices begin to climb, as will vegetables, fruit and meat. And while all this is going on, the Syrian population is finally tiring of autocratic monarchies and their roof might blow off as well. And in that event we might as well all sell our cars, unless we've cornered the market on gold because gas will go to ten dollars a gallon or more.

Then we have South America, where our leader is now. He says he went because our neighbors down there trade with just about every nation on Earth except ours, and he wants to establish closer ties.

And in the event that he's successful in opening partnership doors, we'll have three or four more countries to bail out when their citizens revolt, or their leaders decide the time has come for another massacre, or some natural disaster or other causes them to seek our help.

So, the bottom line of it all is that since we've never seen the upside to any of our international ties, yet been dragged into quite a few disastrous economic situations, not to mention wars, maybe the time's come to build Pat Buchanan's fence around the nation. And, who knows, when we do we might even greatly reduce our drug problems and finally get out from under the costs and headaches caused by illegal aliens.

That's it for today folks.

Adios