poliphilo | Anniversary

I'm wondering what will be next.

The scales have fallen from my eyes: The government can't protect us. It's clueless.

We hope for the best and expect the worst.

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I think the shape of the world is changing.

Up until Katrina hit it was the cliche that the USA was the world's only super-power. After Katrina it's not clear that there any super-powers.

Welcome to the Chinese century!

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Shhh! They'll hear you!

We're like a behemoth that is muscle-bound and sluggish.

We have a terrible wound around our Gulf, and it's getting infected.

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Katrina- or rather the aftermath of Katrina- has changed international perceptions of the USA. "Wounded behemoth" is exactly right. Suddenly we're much less in awe of you.

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And we are less in awe of ourselves.

Underneath all our bluster, we're scared to death like everybody else.

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And who'd have predicted any of it?

Once again history has taken us by surprise.

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"Hopefully that will mean the world will no longer expect the Sun, the Moon and the stars from us any longer."

I think that will probably be the case.

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Don't get me wrong. The U.S. should be able to handle its own problems and we should be capable of doing great things. I just have grown tired of seeing my tax dollars go to other nations who hate us while our own matters are not addressed first. Why should I finance the advancement of other nations only to see my own country slowly slip into the abyss? I am not a Republican or a Democrat. I am not a Liberal or a Conservative. I am not a Nationalist, Isolationist or Imperialist. Just an American who sometimes wants to shout "ENOUGH!"

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That's fair enough.

Every government's prime responsibility is towards its own citizens.

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Whoops. The word "are" is missing from the second paragraph.

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I read the "are" into it without stopping. Filled it right in.

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Isn't it odd how the mind reads what it expects to see rather than what is actually there?

Do you know this one?

Paris in the
the spring

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And when the Chinese want to start flexing some muscle and invade one of their neighbors, I am sure that the world will wring it's hands and cry for America to "do something" Some things never change.

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The Chinese are the most isolationist nation on earth. They're the guys who built that enormous wall to keep the barbarians out. If they stay true to historical form they won't be looking to invade anybody.

But they are set to become the world's largest economy.

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I disagree. They have been setting their sights on Taiwan for some time now and I feel that it is just a matter of time before something hostile happens over that island. They have also stepped up their rhetoric with Japan regarding WW II 60 years after it ended. Why? Because they are now the military power and Japan has left their defense in the hands of the U.S. In spite of their growing economic power (thanks to the foolish help of the U.S.) they still cling to dreams of communism even after it has failed every where else.

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The Chinese regard Taiwan as a part of their territory. They feel about it rather the way you guys would feel if Rhode Island were in the hands of a hostile regime. As for Japan, well, I think they're alarmed that Japan is showing signs of turning all nationalistic again. They suffered very badly from Japanese imperialism last century. There's an element of justifiable paranoia in their attitude.

Hell, I don't hold a brief for the Chinese government. It's a foul dictatorship, but I don't suspect them of wanting to conquer the world.

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