As the war in Afghanistan enters into its eighth year with the situation on the ground rapidly deteriorating and Osama bin Laden nowhere to be found; with a naïve new president doubtless being pulled in several different directions by the various powerbrokers that be hesitant to make a decision regarding the direction and, indeed the ultimate aim of the war; with the global economy in shambles and the dollar on the verge of collapse, the current dire state of affairs begs the question: why? Why are we still in Afghanistan? Why have we not yet won? How could it be that we have not, after eight long years of war, captured bin Laden? These are among the many questions asked over the last several years, however the most important question – one that some of us have not been afraid to ask is this: are we even fighting to win?

To be sure, this question of whether we are fighting to win is directed at the politicians, the bureaucrats, the Pentagon, and the White House – all the political elite. It goes without saying that the men and women in harms way are fighting to win every single day, because for them winning means survival: the scope of the bigger mission becomes very narrow for a handful of soldiers coming under fire and their focus quickly becomes keeping each other alive. The problem is that these men and women are largely being used as pawns, having long ago been abandoned by the same politicians who continually demand and push for war amid flag-waving and pomp, tough talking speeches that result in the death and maiming of countless victims on both sides. These scoundrels are all too quick to pull the trigger and flex the military might of the United States to impose its will or right some perceived wrong somewhere in the world, but once engaged they quickly lose heart and deny the military the very things they need for victory, condemning the troops to multiple tours and suffering a deadly slug-fest that these politicians soon enough are afraid to win, because of the cost they never bothered to calculate at the outset.  (More...)

A reflection on Isaiah 3:1-15

They say that mixing politics and religion is like mixing alcohol and guns. So, here goes nothing.

Last Monday morning as I was praying the Office of Readings the first reading from Scripture was Isaiah 3:1-15. I was struck by the relevance of this passage to our modern condition, and the prophet Isaiah clearly shows the consequences for a nation that turns its back on God. 

Isa.3 Verses 1 to 15

A few of these verses really jumped out at me:

[8] For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen;

because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD,

defying his glorious presence.

[9] Their partiality witnesses against them;

they proclaim their sin like Sodom,

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

For they have brought evil upon themselves.

I have been reflecting upon these words all week. Isaiah and many of the other prophets and, indeed, our Lord Jesus, tells us time and time again of the inevitable and imminent consequences resulting from our disobedience to the natural law and commandments established by God for our own good. God does not condemn us or condemn the nations for such disobedience – we condemn ourselves by our actions or inaction. Indeed, neither does God “punish” by bringing evil down upon us – He is all-good and does no evil. He does, however allow such evil to exist and to influence the world. He does not send down evil upon His creation; rather, He leaves us to our own devices to deal with the consequences of our choices, and this, it can be argued, is far worse. 

Can anyone argue that there is not a constant attack upon the foundation of our society by the radical Leftists and “progressives” looking to redefine everything from “relationships” to “marriage” to “family?” Is it not obvious that they would have us all to believe that little children being promiscuous because they have been educated by Planned Parenthood is just fine? Can we all not see through their efforts at rewriting textbooks to “normalize: same-sex parenting and relationships, and sexual relationships even among children? Have we not noticed a marked increase in the number of lawsuits filed to “equalize” and “normalize” what cannot, by natural law, be on equal par with the traditional family? Have we not seen these attacks aimed at the schools - at our children in order to indoctrinate them into the globalist, relativist ideology where nothing is “wrong,” and everything is OK? In California, homeschooling by parents was declared unconstitutional by the courts. Why? Not because the state was overly concerned about parents having the proper and suitable “credentials” to teach their own children, but because of what these children were being taught. It is because these children were being taught the truth about virtue, values and morals, and unadulterated history; and, by virtue of their avoidance of the California government school system were exempted from the socialistic agenda and radical secular humanism and relativism being pushed by some very influential people in that state and indeed around the country. Let me be clear: the agenda is NOT to educate our children, but to re-educate them, and kudos to those who have entered the teaching profession to fight this nonsense and get schools back on track to doing what they are meant to do – teach academics. 

If we continue to blur the lines of reason, especially for the children, telling them that “good” is “bad” and vice-versa; if we continue to allow government sponsored promiscuity –education to be forced upon our children just because Planned Parenthood tells them it is OK; if we continue to allow government to play a central role in desensitizing children to sexual promiscuity, to violence, to the abuse of women through a pop-culture that celebrates these things, and if we continue to treat lies as truth and call truth a lie - is this not our nation turning it’s back on God, the same God who conceived it and blessed it for over two-hundred years? 

If we continue to allow judges to legislate from the bench and remove God from the public discourse because non-believers are offended, what will become of us? The more we exclude God then the greater the degree to which we exclude ourselves from His grace and blessings – and make no mistake about it: American ingenuity and workmanship and ethics were and still are something marvelous to behold, but without God being included as a real partner in the mission of America, there is nothing of permanent worth that will be accomplished and our standing in the world will suffer, and we will continue to suffer from division from within.

[12b]O my people, your leaders mislead you,

and confuse the course of your paths.

[13] The LORD has taken his place to contend,

he stands to judge his people.

Until Truth is once again recognized as Truth and acknowledged as such we shall continue to remain divided and suffer. What is needed is leadership – and at present there is very, very little in the way of meaningful leadership that will unashamedly and boldly proclaim the Truth about America with conviction and from the heart; that America was meant to be a virtuous nation, a beacon of light and hope to a world enslaved by oppression and tyranny. For a very long time we were that beacon, but once we began to lose our moral compass, that light began to dim, and as we steadily hurled our nation toward the abyss of rampant immorality and licentiousness that light somewhere along the way has seemingly extinguished, and we now suffer the consequences of this: scandal, lies, perversion, war, usurpation of rights, the evils of globalism and socialism pounding as a battering ram at America’s door. The rampant and wonton immorality becoming ever more acceptable and normalized in this country is the greatest threat to our national security that can be conceived.

[4] And I will make boys their princes,

and babes shall rule over them.

[5] And the people will oppress one another,

every man his fellow

and every man his neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder,

and the base fellow to the honorable.

You see how we are? You know also that it was not always so. Once there was a middle ground called virtue. Once we had leaders who rose up and brought this nation with them to great heights. Once we endeavored, now we wait. Once we made our voice heard, now there is apathy. Once we ran Washington, now Washington runs us. Once we were citizens of liberty, now slaves to licentiousness. Once we were untied, now divided, and you know what is said about a house divided. A moral collapse begets a culture of excess that always precedes an economic collapse, and throughout history an economic collapse will always bring about a political and structural collapse, and necessitate a rebuilding – like the New Deal. 

You know that as a republic of laws, built upon the bedrock of a Constitution which itself seeps of the natural moral law and acknowledged as such by its Framers that as long as we have that Constitution, no matter how bad things may become, there will always be a flicker of hope to re-kindle the flames that once burned so deeply in the very heart of this republic and made it the great nation it was and still is. 

We seem to have lost our moral compass as a nation. It is within our power to undo the foolishness of the past and prepare the way of the future by acknowledging that which our Founding Fathers acknowledged in order to stoke the fires of virtue and promise and plenty in advancing the cause of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as envisioned by the Framers. We were established as a nation in the form of a republic rooted in Judeo-Christian tradition and principles. We would do well to remember those principles, for if we do we shall once again endear ourselves to God and show ourselves wanting truly and sincerely for His blessings. Then, and only then, will we have nothing to fear.

[10] Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,

for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

[11] Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,

for what his hands have done shall be done to him.

I, like many others, have been wildly unenthused about our choices for President this election cycle. I was definitely in the Ron Paul camp and would have been able to settle for Huckabee, but McCain? I was a McCain supporter in 2000; that is of course until the Neo-Con wing of the Republican Party torpedoed his chances at the White House with some really unscrupulous ads in South Carolina. Since then McCain seems to have wandered about between cheering on Bush, Cheney and the other highly decorated beneficiaries of the Great Deferments of the Vietnam War era, and at other times cozying up to the likes of Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold on issues of immigration and amnesty. One thing is for sure regarding McCain: he is a man who will surprise you if you are paying attention. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by his performance on Saturday night during the Saddleback Civil Forum with Rick Warren.

A couple of days before the forum I was sitting in traffic behind a car with all sorts of bumper stickers covering it’s rear-end – you now the kind, with all the anti-war slogans surrounding a gigantic image of commie-criminal Che Guevera that reads, “PEACE!” Anyway, one of the stickers caught my eye. It simply read, “McSAME.” I chuckled and at first thought that it was clever. Then I thought some more about it and now, after seeing McCain come alive during this forum, I think that who ever thought up that slogan has an aversion to reality.

Let me state for the record that I am NOT an enthusiastic McCain supporter. I have issues with the Senator, as do most of you. If the election were held today and I were to give him my vote it would be a vote against Obama to avoid the unconscionable disaster that will be sure to follow the current administration should he become President. 

McCain may not be to my liking on every issue, but then again, who will be? One of the pleasant surprises coming out of Saturday’s forum, at least for me, was to discover just how completely different these two men – McCain and Obama – truly are. Obama seemed to hem and haw and talk circles around issues, almost like he wanted to avoid answering the important questions at all cost. Wait a minute – that’s exactly what he wanted to do. I don’t know: perhaps a choreographed rehearsal and a teleprompter for the main event would have helped him. Maybe it’s just me, but this guy seems to be completely lost without his teleprompter to tell him what to say.

In contrast, McCain appeared, at least to me, to only waffle on one question regarding embryonic stem cell research – which I do find troubling. Otherwise, he was very direct and to the point. He answered the questions. At no point was the contrast between these two men more stark than when the question, “When do you believe life begins?” was asked. Obama fluffed off the question with a lame, “that’s above my pay grade.”   McCain said without hesitation, “at conception.” Throughout the forum, McCain answered directly, concisely, and unashamedly made his positions known, while Obama was obviously going out of his way to hide his true positions. Darkness cannot withstand the light of Truth now can it, Senator?

McCain is no Bush. I’m not going to blame George Bush for having grown up in a privileged family – would it were that we could all be so fortunate. McCain, however, was able to convey in one hours’ time a life of service and of sacrifice the like of which should make both Bush and Obama crawl under the nearest rock. I’m not going to re-hash McCain’s military record and sacrifice as a POW, for these things speak for themselves, and they speak volumes. No, McCain has live a long life devoted to serving his country with honor and integrity. Obama has served less than 200 days of actual time spent on the floor in the U.S. Senate and before that was a street activist and professor of U.S. Constitutional Law where he taught his students about how the Constitution is a living document whose meaning and intent changes over time (God help us!). Bush was an outstanding governor of Texas (I was living there from 1998 to 2000), but he quite obviously didn’t care for military service seeing as he just stopped showing up for drill. I can personally attest to the fact that flying jets can get old after a while. Bush also grew up having the very best of everything – right down to education and career. I don’t blame him for these things because that is just the way it is when your grandfather is a highly respected and powerful U.S. Senator and your dad is a former Congressman and CIA Director, among other things. Seriously, who can blame the old man for taking care of his kids?

But, these are the things that shape the very core of who you are, these kinds of life experiences. If you have had everything handed to you on a silver platter and never really had to work hard or sacrifice, then you can’t really appreciate what success means, because for you it was a forgone conclusion. Likewise, if you’ve been sitting in a church where an extreme version of Marxist liberation theology has been preached for the entire twenty years you’ve been there and it is that type of theology that has driven you to activism in the political arena, again it is these types of things that shape the very core of your being. 

McCain, much more so than these other men I believe, truly understands and appreciates liberty and freedom in a way that these others – and most of us – cannot even begin to fathom. In his answers to the two last question posed, “Why do you want to be President?” and “What would you say to those who would oppose me asking you these questions in a church?” To the very last question he responded without hesitation, “This election is very, very important. Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.” To the former question he said, in part, “I want to inspire a generation of Americans to serve a purpose greater than their own. I believe that America’s best days are ahead of us. This is a time for all of us to come together. I have always put my country first. I put my country first when I had the honor of serving in the military; I put my country first while serving as a member of the House of Representatives and later in the Senate. Americans believe its time to put our country first. I will go to those places where I know they probably won’t even vote for me and promise them that I will be everyman’s President.”

The most impressive moment for me, however was when McCain was speaking about what America means to him, how blessed we truly are as a nation, and how other nations around the world who do not have what we have – liberty, freedom, valid law – want to look to us and emulate us. I took the following from marketwatch.com:

"Our Judeo-Christian principles dictate that we do what we can to help people who are oppressed throughout the world. I would like to tell you that I still think that even in the worst places in the world today, they still harbor this hope and dream someday to be like us and have freedom and democracy. We remain, my friends, the most unusual experiment in history and I'm privileged to spend every day of my life in it. I know what it is like to be without it."  Wow.  That statement left me stunned.

My other differences with him aside, I think it can safely be said that John McCain is a man who understands profoundly the value of liberty, very much in the same way our Founding Fathers did. He has experienced tyranny and has survived its inhumanity. He is, I think, an inherently decent man who wants to be President because he feels strongly that it is his duty. On Saturday night I saw a John McCain that I had not seen since 2000. We need to see more of this John McCain and less Obama-worship on the evening news (yeah, like that will happen). Here is a guy who will commit to appointing originalist justices to the courts, to vetoing legislation filled with pork, and to preserving our sovereignty at all costs.

Right now, for me, it is more a case of the lesser of two evils, but the more I get to see of a John McCain who visibly believes in what he is saying and is not just pandering to a particular demographic, the more I could me inclined to become excited and inspired.

The question is this: do we want a President who understands sacrifice and suffering, who understands the intrinsic value of liberty, who understands what is worth fighting and dying for, or do we want a president who goes out of his way to hide his true positions in a Christian forum. One man says he will fight to preserve our liberty, and right now I am inclined to believe him. Time will tell. One thing is for certain, however: Obama will bring us to places we don’t want to see and force this nation to make choices of life or death for our republic. The groundwork has already been laid through a government that has become such a monstrosity that it can no longer be kept under restraint, for the advancement of his type of misguided Marxist ideology. 

The Underlying Message

Can the U.S. survive their relationship with China? This question is worth pondering for many reasons, the most obvious one being the fact that the Chinese are not going away any time soon. It is also worth pondering because China underwrites a substantial amount of the U.S. national debt. That the Chinese are to be taken very seriously as players on the world stage was the primary message that the state wished to convey via their spectacular opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics.   True, the Chinese have been players for some time now, but this message was meant to declare something more: “We’re here, we’re a world power, and you’d all better be prepared to deal with us on our terms, because we are the future.”

This is a major problem for the United States because our relationship with China has very significant consequences, domestically and internationally, economically and politically. Possibly the most damaging aspect of our courtship with a brutal, totalitarian regime is the damage done to our credibility in the world, and here at home, our confidence in our government and what it is suppose to represent. Of course, some will thumb their noses at such a claim, reminiscing back to when we were nice to the Soviets – just before their evil empire collapsed. Sure, one could argue that toward the end of the Cold War we were sort of making nice with the Soviets, pretending to have dialogue with Chairman Gorbachev who, by all accounts was far more reasonable and realistic than any of his predecessors; but, one must keep in mind the important fact that at the time we were obliterating them economically, and they knew it. Not only that, but they also knew that there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. Their demise was imminent and so they were diplomatically making the best of a very, very bad situation. Unfortunately, things are very different regarding our relationship with China.

Learning Lessons From Uncle Joe

The Soviets simply ruled with an iron fist, demanding total allegiance, yet offering no incentives whatsoever for mandatory compliance - only the possibility that you might not be sent to the gulags or shot if you were a good and compliant subject. So, when Gorbachev allowed even the slightest economic and political reforms, the entire system collapsed because once the people got a taste of freedom, the fires of liberty were stoked and momentum swung decidedly to the cause of liberty which, of course, quickly overwhelmed the state apparatus almost before it could collect itself to react. It was as if neither side, the state or the people, could actually believe what was happening; but, the deciding factor was that the people, once experiencing even a mere flicker of liberty - were not going to squander their only opportunity for liberation in over seventy years.

Let us be clear here: the Chinese were paying very, very close attention to those events, and as a result the party apparatus in China greatly benefitted from Moscow’s mistakes.   Instead of really granting what we in the west would consider true economic reforms, Beijing allows foreign investors and businesses to enter the Chinese market but under the strictest of terms – they [the Chinese government] dictate the terms, period. Not much room for negotiation. If you want access to 1.3 billion potential customers, you will comply. As for the average citizen, there is no question that their quality of life has, at least on the surface, improved over the last decade. To look at scenes from Beijing or other major cities in China, one might as well be looking at any other major city in the west… that is except for the secret police, phone tapping, government monitoring and control of the internet, the highly visible presence of soldiers and police on every block and, lest we forget, the fact that there are cameras on trashcans, street lights, building facades, inside of restaurants and hotels – which are all bugged – so that the government can ensure compliance and crush dissent. That is, crush dissent as in Tiananmen Square and Tibet, with absolute overwhelming, brute force and no mercy whatsoever. 

A Workers Paradise, To Be Sure

Some economic ventures are run by Chinese subjects [I dare not call them citizens] while most of the larger ones are run by the state or handpicked and very well connected party cronies. But really, one could make the argument that while people “run” these enterprises, it is the state that really “owns” them, because in a totalitarian dictatorship rooted in Marxist despotism, the state really and truly owns everything – even the rights of the people, and the people can do whatever they want to – so long as they get permission from the state via the police.

Imagine yourself a loyal and compliant subject of the Chinese Communist Party, with a nice big picture of Mao at the entrance to your apartment and, of course, an even bigger one of President Hu Jintao, with lots of flowers and such around it like an altar for votive offerings. Say you are a woman and you and your husband would like to have a baby. Great! Now, all you have to do is to fill out the state application and questionnaire, submit to the required tests medical and otherwise, and then visit your friendly local police and have an interview wit a government/party official who will either approve or deny your application. If denied you may reapply, but you must be careful because you could be labeled a dissenter for not gleefully accepting the party’s decision on your behalf and thereby guilty of anti-party and anti-revolutionary activities. This unfortunate label could result in yourself and any number of your family and/or friends being tried, convicted and sent to a “re-education camp” where you will learn all bout the virtues of the great Communist Revolution, etc. After several years of torture, beatings, rapes, and brutal slave labor, like building Olympic venues or factories where products for western consumption will be produced, you might even be fortunate enough to be sent to work in one of those factories. 

The New Balance factories are very nice – modern, roomy, clean. That’s because you don’t get to spend much time in your room that you must rent from the factory located on the “factory campus” because you probably work 12 to 14 hours per day, and then get clean the factory workspaces and then, finally, your room. Of course, your room must be cleaned and inspected before you head down to the cafeteria where you pay for your food. [If your room doesn’t pass inspection, you get fined.] Then perhaps it’s off to a rehearsal for a show being put together to impress a visiting party official and some corporate officers from the U.S. or Europe. You’d better remember when to step and when to hold up the pretty colored signs and when to shout, because if you mess up and ruin the show, it’s back to the “re-education camp” for you! Or, perhaps it’s just easier to take you out by the garbage dump and shoot you in the back of your head – then the state can bill your surviving family [assuming there are any] the 15 cents it cost them for the bullet they had to waste on you. But, I digress.

Let’s assume you have your baby without being an anti-revolutionary criminal. Lets imagine that after a few years you end up pregnant again, unplanned of course, because you would never dream of intentionally having a second child in violation of the party’s one-child per family edict. The state says you must have an abortion. Or, let’s imagine you get pregnant with your first baby without having obtained your government permit to have a child. A friendly policeman notices your bulge and asks for your papers, which, of course, you do not have. You are arrested, and transported to a facility where they murder your baby. Then they may charge you with being an anti-revolutionary criminal – a sworn enemy of the state! Or, imagine you are one of the lucky subjects allowed to run a business. You get to run a McDonalds – that is until the day one of your employees gets angry with you and denounces you to the police, who promptly come and speed you away to the “re-education camp.” 

This is how they treat their own people. Sure, they are allowed to have some creature comforts that make life a bit easier, but these things can be taken by the state away in an instant, because you are only allowed to have these things at the pleasure of the state. 

The party and the state are synonymous, and smart enough to know that people tend to get a bit complacent when they are comfortable. The more stuff they are allowed to have, the more favorable they are likely to view the state – it’s amazing how a few years of “re-education” can make these things so clear! The state is also smart and despotic enough to know that every once in a while it needs to let the people know who is in control. Make no mistake – the people understand this perfectly, and they comply, for what else can they do? Just think of it as a combination of Starbucks and Stalinism.

A Potential Credibility Gap?

Whatever image China wishes the world to see, the fact of the matter is that those poor people are living in fear under a brutally authoritarian despotic regime. Some human rights organization’s estimates of the number of people imprisoned in China run between 1.5 to 3 million, with the number of prisoners executed running between 10 to 15 thousand and some estimates up to 100,000 in 2007. It is likely that the latter number is inclusive of those who died during while engaged in or as a result of forced labor. Most agree that in the years since being awarded the 2008 Olympics, China has sought to re-cast itself as a kinder and gentler authoritarian system. There are even some organizations that estimate the number of executions has dropped almost 40 percent since 2001. This would be a welcome trend if it were permanent, but one must ask honestly what will happen after the next uprising or pro-democracy protest? Keep in mind that China is a nation of 1.3 billion people and that the secretive, authoritarian party, while surely keeping meticulous records itself of the numbers of prisoners and related information, would never allow the actual numbers to be released, so it is safe to assume that the numbers could well be far higher than those listed above. 

One can easily see, then, how close economic ties with such a regime may raise some eyebrows around the world. America is supposed to represent liberty and freedom, while the Chinese regime represents fear, oppression and death. And, if you haven’t heard yet, they underwrite our national debt. Let me say that again: China underwrites our national debt. Once more time for those who need to hear it: a brutal, despotic authoritarian regime that randomly imprisons and executes its subjects, that supports the government of North Korea – you know, that worker’s paradise where their barely sane “Dear Leader” is starving them to death so he can build weapons and just keep them in line – as well as many others oppressive and outright evil regimes throughout the world – they own a substantial portion of our debt. 

This is from the Treaurydirect.gov website: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/auctfund/work/work.htm

“Marketable securities can be bought, sold, or transferred after they are originally issued. The U.S. Treasury uses an auction process to sell these securities and determine their rate or yield. Annual auction activity:

Offers 4 types of securities with varying maturities

Conducts approximately 200 public auctions

Issues more than $4.2 trillion in securities [emphasis mine]

To finance the public debt, the U.S. Treasury sells bills, notes, bonds, and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) to institutional and individual investors through public auctions. Starting in February 2006, Treasury resumed the auction of Treasury bonds. Treasury auctions occur regularly and have a set schedule.” Their words, not mine.

Visit http://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/auctfund/work/auctime/auctime.htm for the published schedule of these auctions.

This is how it works: Congress decides yet again that they need to spend far more money than we have because they, somewhat like the Chinese and the Soviets I guess, have come to the conclusion that the government ought to provide everything we need, and even more that we don’t. Bills filled with pork and out of control budgets are passed. The Treasury then has to figure out a way to pay for this, because the people who decided to spend more than we have won’t. Logically, the Treasury auctions off portions of the debt to the bidders who will charge the lowest interest rate. Over 25 percent of the entire debt is presently being financed by foreign interests and of that, over 20 percent is held by the Communist government of China. Nice. So much for heeding the warnings of our Founders about becoming involved in foreign entanglements! If other countries own your debt, and especially countries to whom you are ideologically opposed; if that isn’t foreign entanglement I am hard pressed to understand what is.

Consequences

Ideologically speaking the Communist government of China is our enemy, and yet we have allowed ourselves to become very vulnerable to them. Think about this: what would happen if all of the foreign entities holding portions of our debt called our loan? When the Treasury says it auctions bonds, bills, etc. “to finance the public debt” that is government speak for “to keep the government running.” But what is the true price we pay? Consider that the Chinese Communist government plays a major role in keeping our government financed, and I am sure that the full impact of this situation is not missed on our government officials when they have to tiptoe around the globe consulting with the Chinese to ensure that we do not upset them by our intended actions. What will be the ultimate cost? How can a free people allow themselves to be financed in part by tyrants – tyrants of a magnitude that the Founding Fathers could not even begin to fathom.

It is going to far to say that we are, in a very real way, now beholden to the Communist government of China? Will it be possible to wrest ourselves from their influence in our affairs and our economy? And what of our reputation in the world and the subsequent influence backed up by that reputation? Is it not slightly hypocritical to claim to be fighting to bring freedom and liberty to one part of the world while enabling it to be oppressed in another? Any what will be the ultimate economical impact on our nation and, for that matter, on the world? How long can we sustain such a detrimental trade deficit with China where we cave in to their terms almost on command? What has happened to the America that less than a decade ago was the sole remaining superpower after defeating the Soviet Union? 

And speaking of the Soviets, it appears they’re back – and with a vengeance too. Those old KGB guys haven’t lost their touch – invade your neighbor while the rest of the world is watching the Olympics. Brilliant strategy. Especially when you know that Georgia’s biggest ally, the United States, however much we protest and demand a Russian withdrawal, is more or less impotent when it comes to this situation. The Russians want their Soviet Empire back and they are testing the waters: what will the U.S. do? What can they do? For our poor ally is that with our battle weary and overextended military, a looming economic crisis, a weak dollar and a popular political movement demanding we stick our heads in the sand and pretend that all is well, the unfortunate answer is: not much. And so the future for Georgia is uncertain indeed.

What is certain is that the Chinese are once again paying close attention to what Moscow is doing – and will learn from any mistakes. Make no mistake about it: our relationship with China in its current form is absolutely deadly for us. It is suicide. It is the beginning of our abdication of superpower status at a time when those who most appreciate liberty, like Georgia, are looking to the U.S. for leadership and action to inspire and help them, yet all we can offer is words. And talk is cheap, especially when it is backed up by a plunging dollar, an unconscionable deficit and a government that fails to see the consequences of cozying up to tyrants and preferring to let the U.N. take the lead. Make no mistake about it, Beijing has one eye on Moscow and the other on Taiwan, and we, my follow Americans, have precious little time to take back or government before it signs our death warrant and becomes the cause of our downfall. Can we survive a relationship with China? Our action or inaction over the next several years will be the determining factor. So, either we can work together to pull Washington’s collective head out of its rear, or we can start studying Chinese and Russian. Personally, I prefer the former.