The world’s policeman?
completely ignoring sensitive ethnic realities. After President Wilson bungled the negotiations, from pressure by a congressional alliance of Midwestern conservative isolationist Republicans and southern Democrats, we refused to join the League of Nations. Noted British economist John Maynard Keynes warned that overburdening Germany with unreasonable, vindictive reparations payments would backfire and provide fodder for eventual retaliation. But nobody listened and the seeds of the next World War were sewn. Hitler seized power by capitalizing on existing hatreds and resentments.
Having learned from our mistakes after World War I, in 1946 we laid out a plan to create democracy, free-market capitalism and eventual European unity for our former World War II allies and enemies, “nation building,” if you will. But today, after a full recovery, the Soviet Union’s collapse and Russia’s resurgence, we seem a little unsure of which path to take. Should we back off and let someone else assume our leadership burden? Such former major players on the world stage as George Shultz, Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice say that if we were to cut back on our international commitments the world as we presently know it “would soon come apart at the seams.”
Seventy-seven years ago Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese Empire moved to take over the world by force and there was no policeman on the beat to stop them. We can’t let that happen again. An unpoliced world, as an unpoliced neighborhood, will quickly deteriorate into chaos. But what about the enormous cost of maintaining order?
Based on our defense spending figures, we have the most powerful military force the world has ever known; greater than the next seven world powers combined and almost three times that of our nearest rival, China. But can we continue indefinitely on this path? We must; but we must insist that our NATO allies assume more financial responsibility for their own defense. They presently say they can’t afford it. Horse feathers! We may have to actually pull back on some commitments to force their hand. But our allies must eventually find a way to afford the costs as we have.
We must also come up with more money ourselves without increasing our Federal indebtedness. Our present tax rate is only a little more than half that of most of our wealthier allies who are, incidentally, doing rather well in today’s freemarket economy. They are proving that higher taxes don’t necessarily stifle economic prosperity. We need to understand that reality.
George B. Reed Jr., who lives in Rossville, can be reached by email at reed1600@bellsouth.net.