Entering A Season Of Change

I know I'm guilty of this occasionally and I imagine quite a few of you may have also succumbed to it.
I'm speaking of Americentrism and the complacency that accompanies it.

The scary thing is that as you look across the centuries, many other nations have also suffered from
their own version of this disease… usually just before the collapse of their empires.

We've grown up believing that America has a right to be number one in the world. Our military should
be second to none. Our economy should be the strongest. Our athletes should always win the gold.
It's no longer something we strive for… we see it as an entitlement.

It's hard to imagine the modern world without the U.S. at the forefront. We've proved our resiliency time
and again, from the Great Depression, to Pearl Harbor, to the terror attacks of Sept 11, 2001.

We merrily rise each morning and go through our daily routines fully expecting everything to continue
on as before. Could we lose our place in the world?

Study after study has proven that in general, Americans are woefully ignorant of world geography. We
can't find other nations on the map and have very little knowledge of other governments, their leaders,
or their histories.

Want to lose a TV viewer? Television ratings show that programs or even short segments on network
news broadcasts that deal with world events are poorly watched. Better spice up that evening
newscast with stories about American Idol or Paris Hilton if you want decent ratings.

In a nutshell… for many American there's the United States, and then there's the rest of the world and
the rest of the world doesn't matter.

South American nations are falling like dominoes into the Marxist/Socialist sphere, yet the average
U.S. citizen doesn't know or care.

Europe wants to challenge us economically, as do China and India. Recent technological advances
made by China's military have sent shock waves through the Pentagon.

With their rapidly growing economy, within another twenty years China will be able to go head to head
with us militarily anywhere in the world. Though they would never comment on this publicly, China is
one of the reasons the Bush administration wants amnesty for the millions of illegals here.

Though no longer front-page news since the end of the Cold War, the Russian military still has the
capability to challenge us in many areas. MAD, or Mutually Assured Destruction, is still a nuclear
reality.

Let's throw Islamic terrorism into the mix, and it's easy to see just how delicate the world order is.

As some strategists see it, the only way for the U.S. to maintain its military edge is by significantly
increasing our population… thus growing our economy to such a degree that we can continue to
finance continued improvements of our armed forces.

… Let the weak say I am strong. Joel 3:10

With nuclear, chemical, and biological weaponry within reach of almost any group with the money to
pay for it, that passage from the Bible rings true as never before.

Sources are now reporting that terrorist groups are experimenting with affordable and easily obtainable
drones as a means of launching attacks on western interests.

Undetectable by radar, a small remote controlled drone loaded with high explosives or biological
agents could be launched from a small boat off the U.S. coast and easily flown into the Capitol, White
House, Pentagon or other target.

One U.S. military official recently stated that it would be pure luck if we were even able to notice a
drone, much less knock one out.

The world is quickly changing, but the U.S. seems to be stuck in neutral. There is no national will to
modernize our tax code or Social Security. We struggle with border security and immigration issues.
We spend enormous sums of capital to fight political battles between the forty-yard lines.

If we are serious about maintaining our place of leadership in the world, then modernization and reform
at all levels of government will help free up the resources necessary.

History has shown that times such as the one we are entering can be dangerous. A citizenry
frustrated with its leaders can drift to revolution, Balkanization, or can surrender power to a strong
leader.

Or we could grow so complacent that we become like the proverbial frog placed in cool water that is
slowly heated until before the frog realizes it… he's cooked.

The patriots are stirring once again, but the masses and many politicians have yet to notice.

June 11, 2006