[clearcutforum] ISOLATIONISM

A large-scale instance of political smear-tactics was the introduction of the word isolationism into our political vocabulary. It was a derogatory term, suggesting something evil, and it had no clear, explicit definition. It was used to convey two meanings: one alleged, the other real—and to damn both.

The alleged meaning was defined approximately like this: "Isolationism is the attitude of a person who is interested only in his own country and is not concerned with the rest of the world." The real meaning was: Patriotism and national self-interest.

What, exactly, is concern with the rest of the world? Since nobody did or could maintain the position that the state of the world is of no concern to this country, the term isolationism was a straw man used to misrepresent the position of those who were concerned with this country's interests. The concept of patriotism was replaced by the term "isolationism" and vanished from public discussion.

The number of distinguished patriotic leaders smeared, silenced, and eliminated by that tag would be hard to compute. Then, by a gradual, imperceptible process, the real purpose of the tag took over: the concept of concern was switched into selfless concern. The ultimate result was a view of foreign policy which is wrecking the United States to this day: the suicidal view that our foreign policy must be guided, not by considerations of national self-interest, but by concern for the interests and welfare of the world, that is, of all countries except our own.

Basil Venitis muses that what many Americans bizarrely consider national defense is actually an aggressive and enduring offense, and yet they are always surprised when other nations get offended. In Afghanistan, NATO forces are trying to fight a shadowy enemy that does not wear uniforms, while being told to protect corrupt governments. It is shameful to allow more of our soldiers to die so that our leaders can avoid admitting mistakes.

Those inclined to give credence to the siren song of a Pax Americana must confront reality. Though America may be the world's mightiest nation, it cannot achieve the grandiose goals of the interventionists. If the goal of universal peace under American domination is unrealizable, the attempt to achieve it has imposed heavy costs. Most obviously, the wars undertaken to secure this chimerical goal have caused death, destruction, and resentment against the United States by the people subjected to American assault.

Basil Venitis points out Uncle Sam and Fourth Reich(EU) now spend two trillion euros every year on the military, homeland security, and intelligence. There are 5,000 active terrorists in the world. This works out to spending 400 million euros per terrorist per year. Fear of terrorism drives growth in government and has led to involvement in multiple little wars and some bigger ones as well as subsequent exercises in nation building, all of which have been unconstitutional, and none of which have turned out well.

The global war on terror, now referred to as overseas contingency operations, is without end and without limits, and has made the West hated and feared in most of the world. It has even made Americans and Fourthreichians potential targets of their own government without any recourse to the protections afforded by the American Constitution or the Lisbon Treaty. The exploitation of fear of terrorism by kleptocrats has led to wars that did not have to be fought. Fear has been the key to the door for expansion of government, and kleptocrats have seized the opportunity. It has also eroded the liberties that have defined our Graecoroman culture.

Venitis notes that we are observing the last days of the American Empire. Like ancient Rome, America is saddled with an empire that is fatally undermining its government. The trappings of empire are many: the brutal war of choice in Iraq and other foreign interventions going back decades; the militarization of space; the hundreds of overseas U.S. military bases full of swaggering soldiers who brawl and sometimes rape. At home, the growth of an imperial presidency, with the CIA as its private army, has culminated in kleptocrats' resort to warrantless wiretaps, torture, a gulag of secret CIA prisons and an unconstitutional arrogation of dictatorial powers, while a corrupt Congress bows like the Roman Senate to Caesar. Retribution looms, as the American economy, dependent on a bloated military-industrial-kleptocrat complex(MIKC) and foreign borrowing, staggers toward bankruptcy, maybe a military coup.