The recent debt ceiling negotiations, which I have said time and time again are just theatre because nobody is going to cut anything anyway, have drawn our attention away from the fact that several nations are taking our internal weakness as a sign that we have become weak throughout our whole structure. While the president and the Congress talk and talk and talk, and the deadline for default gets closer and closer, we look foolish to the rest of the world. We have a responsibility to pay our obligations, but we must also balance our budget immediately. The fact that we have to go groveling to the Chinese and other nations to borrow money to run our government is appalling, especially given what we have now learned. It seems that there are indications the Chinese are building electromagnetic pulse weapons with the aim of rendering our aircraft carriers vulnerable (
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/21/beijing-develops-radiation-weapons/). We know they have already tested anti-satellite weapons, as they blasted one of their old ones out of the sky in a test. The Chinese didn't seem to care that this was a violation of several treaties, as treaties are only as strong as those who enforce them. We depend on satellite technology in our war making strategy. Our GPS, our guided missiles, many of the precision weapons we use, are all dependent on satellites. On another front, it seems that Iran is accelerating its nuclear program, and there is also evidence that they may have purchased rocket technology from Pakistan or elsewhere. North Korea, a Stalinist throwback country, despite the fact that its population is starving, has gone ahead with its own nuclear weapons development and apparently has purchased missile technology from the Chinese, which would enable them to actually put the United States in range (although South Korea is a more likely target). In the Middle East, the Muslim Brotherhood is strengthening its hold on power in Egypt. We are their sworn enemy, and their aims include the destruction of the state of Israel. We have been duped into thinking all those who oppose tyrannical regimes must be correct and worthy of our friendship. We actually supported this group's ascendancy! In short, many nations which hate us, and a couple that pretend to be our friends but in fact may harbor aspirations of becoming THE superpower, sense a weakness in our nation which has put us in peril. I think the fact that we can't even get our fiscal house in order while the world watches is a big part of this perception. Another huge part of this perception is the end of the United States' lead in space--we now have to depend on the Russians to take us. John Kennedy must be turning over in his grave. At any rate, I hope somebody is busy deciding what to do about all of this because it seems that the president and the Congress are devoting all their time to the debt issue. That is important to be sure, but the #1 priority of government is to protect the nation and the people. So let's quit dallying. I say we institute my plan to eliminate the deficit (or one like it) so that the world will see that we are serious again, start buying more American products, quit borrowing money, and show the world that we have the will and backbone to act like a great nation again. Then all those sharks in the water might think twice and decide there is a better meal elsewhere.
