Words of Wisdom

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I will confess to not being an avid John McCain fan. He is far too hawkish for my likes. His fawning with Jerry Falwell seems disingenouous and staged. Furthermore, no matter how much he professses to not be motivated by politics, it is hard to take that claim seriously.

Nevertheless, I just listened to part of an interview of John McCain with Chris Matthews wherein the Arizona Senator's remarks were SO laudatory that I felt compelled to comment. He suggested that immediately following the attacks on Septembber 11, 2001, the United States should have immediately added dramatically to the Peace Corps. He further suggested that we should have offered educational packages to any one who volunteered for ANY kind of service to this country...Peace Corps, Vista or military.

I cannot help but wonder what the world might look like today had we heeded that advice five years ago. We might have capitolized on the great stores of world sympathy that tragedy evoked. We, perhaps, could have made a statement that the U.S. stands for a world united against terrorism. Other nations would have realized that American rhetoric was not just lip service, that we truly cared about issues such as poverty, hunger, disease and tyranny. Our actions could have conceivably turned the world's nations into allies. What is more, it is possible that the fertile breeding ground which has spawned rampant religious extremism might have been turned into barren soil.

There are lots of coulds and mights in this speculative argument. Unfortunately, we will never know if such possibilities were potential realities. Instead of a sympathy dividend and a sense of international comradery, we deposited hatred, alienation and global tension in our "foreign policy bank account". The interest on these funds has accrued accordingly. Every disingenuous action has been repaid by another country which disavows U.S. policy. Every soldier in Iraq has been countered with ten new radical extremists who would further their cause of Islamic expansionism. Each and every country with whom we have refused to negotiate, often those very same nations we demonized with "Axis of Evil" monikers...each of these nations now pose serious threats to American freedoms, not to mention the threats to other world nations.

Rather than embrace fair and equitable trade policies that might have arisen with a strong and influential Peace Corps, we opted for trade biased by corporate greed. These kinds of trade agreements are diametrically opposed to fair labor and environmental standards which might have been a boon in the fight against AIDS, other deadly diseases, hunger and poverty. We purposefully denied the influence of global climate and refused to be a cooperative agent. We hypocritically espoused nuclear non proliferation while continuing to develop new nuclear programs at home and rewarding allies with a blind eye regarding THEIR nuclear weapons programs.

Well...it must be said...citizens of the world are not all rubes...not all naive and gullible. They have seen through our rhetoric, they grasp the overall U.S. plan. It is often said that foreigners love Americans but hate America. Is there any wonder at this? The reality is...any possiblitiy that our current administration will see the logic of this argument is extremely doubtful. But...the possiblity that a NEW administration might see the value of a stretched out and benevolent American hand is certainly not out of the question. It may be that a renewed dedication coupled with a new mutualistic goal will help impel us toward those strides that will restore the confidence and trust we have lost from our former international allies.

Again, I applaud Senator McCain for his far reaching insights and hope others may be inspired to build the kind of world we all want. It's fruition is within our grasp!!

trickster108