Trump is returning to common-sense relations with foreign
governments and his direct approach is needed. In past years U.S. politicians
and corporate boards overemphasized the importance of foreign countries with
large potential consumer bases like China. This only resulted in an enormous
trade deficit for the US and few reciprocal exports for US products. It was
simply wasting a fortune on business develop expense where there is low or
delayed demand.
We also allowed rogue foreign governments to extract US
cash in exchange for promises to behave. This never works.
In 1801, President Thomas Jefferson got an extortion
payment notice from the government of Tripoli, demanding millions of dollars to
dissuade the Barbary Pirates from stealing US merchant ships, crews and
cargos. Jefferson said no and sent in
the Marines to invade Tripoli and remove the Sultan who ran this scam..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War
We have the same dilemma today with North Korea and Iran,
but we have failed to remove the threats they pose. The US government has
chosen to give our money away to make us the victims of extortion. This is a
bottomless pit. Jefferson’s solution was correct and doable. Trump will attempt
to end the North Korea problem without bombing them, but he knows he can take
them out with minimum collateral damage like we did in the 1990 stealth air
attack on Bagdad.
US citizens expect the US government to solve these
problems. We believe in national sovereignty, but we should intervene when rogue
nations impose or threaten neighboring countries. We know that the citizens of many countries
do not approve of their own governments’ actions, but we do draw the line when
their governments’ abuse their neighbors.
When these governments abuse their own citizens, we complain, but we
don’t attack.
At every turn, the Left will propose “new values” that
challenge our limited options. Their
obsession with Russian interference suggests that the US should end its
practice of regime change in rogue countries. Their obsession with protected
groups blurs our duty to judge individuals on their own merits and destroys our
right of free association. These are not social reformers. They are saboteurs.
They reject individual responsibility and push for big government.
The US is the world’s leading democracy with a free market,
private sector economy. Europe has wandered into quicksand by adopting too many
socialist policies and abandoning their sovereignty to the EU. They don’t seem
to be able or ready to escape the cost of these policies. Their prices are not
set by consumer demand, but by government edict.
The Soviet Union failed to make its government owned
industries viable. After the Soviet Union went bankrupt, China retained its Communist
government, but established government owned industries with enough incentives
to be viable. The US wanted to ensure peace with China and US industries wanted
to sell to the large consumer base in China. This didn’t happen. After the US
government embraced “globalism”, China used bribes and lower wage labor and no
regulations to get US companies to move their manufacturing to China.
Industries engaged in meeting consumer demand should remain
in the free market private sector to ensure that consumers can control the
price using the law of supply and demand. Improving vendor relations is good,
but taking bids is still necessary as a check on price gouging.
Government regulation of trade needs to be as limited as
possible because it is costly. The private sector economy needs as much freedom
as possible.
Trade between countries is the best route to ensure peace.
Countries who depend on trade goods from neighboring countries are not likely
to attack those countries.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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