I don’t know why I have these times when so much flashes across my brain? The thoughts come and go quickly unless I write them down. Getting down to it, I think one of the primary reasons the world is in such a turmoil has to do with neighborhoods.
For us in the U.S. it is about being bogged down in the Middle East. We have made enemies in pretty much every country in that region for one reason or another. Let’s face it, our nation building of the 21st century is an abject failure. When will we ever learn.
Let’s stick to our neighborhood instead of traipsing to the other side of the world to find “things to fix”.
Yeah, I know oil was the primary reason we got so engulfed, pun intended, in that area of the world. But for the most part our critical dependence on their oil is, or will soon be, a thing of the past. Thankfully, we are finding other means for energy we need as a nation.
By sticking to our neighborhood I mean let’s at least stay in this hemisphere. If we had learned this lesson by now, I’m pretty sure our supposed immigration problem would be non-existent. As is the case for the rest of the world immigration is primarily caused by citizens of of neighboring countries trying to escape the tyranny of a takeover government. Let’s worry about Venezuela and forget about Iraq.
Looking at an even higher level view of this stuff, The United Nations was a great idea when it was being conceived almost a hundred years ago now. It was meant as a non-military way to deal with rogue nations and the popup dictators that caused people to flee the country of their birth. One of the major problems with the UN is that there is just too much cultural differences from one region of the world to another. The predominantly Muslim countries see things very fundamentally different than western democracies.
Forward progress in the UN would be to break it up. Let’s have an Eastern Hemisphere UN and a Western Hemisphere UN and maybe even an Asia UN. Each would have a better chance of influencing matters that now cause us to go to war with each other.
I know, I know, there are alot of associated problems with even this solution. But, I just think they would be more manageable if we stuck to our own neighborhood.
By giving all children the opportunity to learn about the beliefs and values of diverse groups in society, the government would be providing for their education in some of the liberal democratic values on which the State itself is based. They include openness to a range of views along with inclusive and respectful citizenship.
Finally, here is the full question, were we wrong to separate from mother England, especially through violence?
I am very much a peacenik. I think war is absolutely the last thing we should try in tackling almost every problem. So, when I hear the latest version of neocons wanting to race to yet another war as a solution for everything it turns my stomach. I agree with my Quaker friends War is Not the Answer. Especially when we have no idea of what to do after we have defeated the bad guys. Most often than not they are just replaced by other bad guys who are sometimes even worse. The answer in Syria, like it should have been in Iraq and most other middle eastern countries, is to just let it work its own way out. Don’t butt in with our great wisdom when we obviously don’t have any. There has not been a war in my lifetime that had even a remote semblence of what we thought would come out of it.
a world that is boiling over in violence and cut-throat theocracy makes me nostalgic for the days it was merely “simmering in resentment and tyranny
How about we send all the kids and grandkids of those folks off as the first line in the battle. Let’s make them put their loved ones lives on the line. I bet if that were a requirement the opposition to trying peace this time would quickly die out. There is nothing like “skin in the game” to change people’s attitudes.
In the same light there are all those senior citizens out there that are so opposed to allowing our citizens to obtain reasonably cost healthcare. How about taking all those folks off Medicare and let them fend for themselves in the cutthroat business pre-ADA. I bring this idea up frequently when I get into it with them and have yet to have any of them accept my proposition.
“We were ready to do it”
The above title and words come from a Sojourners Magazine article by Gregg Brekke in the April 2014 issue. I have made it clear on most of my blogs that I am pro-peace in almost all regards and of course that makes me anti-war. All the wars and conflicts that the U.S. has fought in my lifetime have not had any long, or even medium term, consequences. If they had not been fought at all nothing much would have changed.
Somebody is always telling us in the papers how to prevent war. There is only one way in the world to prevent war and that is for every nation to tend to is own business. Trace any war and you will find some nations was trying to tell some other nations how to run their business. All these nations are interfering with some other nations’ personal affairs but with an eye to business. Why don’t we let the rest of the world act like it wants to? 
