NATIONAL DEFENSE

The Senses Novels take place on a global scale. The view of America in the books is, at some point the country has become nationalist. This is carried to extremes as far as securing the borders and trade. Inevitably, it leads to war.

I am a believer in strong security at the border. I also think that we need a better balance of trade. What we don’t need is to create an atmosphere of mistrust and anger about these things with other countries. Words matter. How we express ourselves makes a difference.

Russia, China, France and almost any other country that you can name have a ‘their country first’ attitude, but they don’t usually flaunt it. What is the purpose of antagonizing everyone? There is one irrational and one rational reason that I can see.

The irrational reason is to stroke your ego and the egos of those who are like-minded. I believe that our government is many things, but it is not entirely out of its mind. Rather, it is calculating, albeit in an insane way.

The rational reason is to serve notice and cause other countries to reevaluate their dealings with the U.S. We, the United States, has been sending money and goods out of the country at an unbelievable rate for far too long. Money that we will never be paid back and products that are woefully undervalued when weighed against the trade items sent into the country.

We, as a country, need to be cautious. I can admire the fact that we are standing up for ourselves, but I can also be concerned about the way others will react. For instance, what happens if we decide to levy huge tariffs on goods coming into the States?

This, believe it or not, could be construed as a de facto embargo. It would leave a vast number of container ships filled with cargo with nowhere to go. I know that the average person may shrug their shoulders and say, “So what?” Which is why I am going to give you a little history lesson.

How many of you are aware of the reason that the Japanese went to war the United States in World War II? It was the American embargo of goods, particularly oil, that we imposed on them because we didn’t like what they were doing in Indochina. And we were basically a neutral country at the time!

When you threaten the economy of a country, expect a reaction. Sometimes that response is violent. It is no different than you holding a person’s paycheck and telling them they can have it when you think they are behaving better. That paycheck represents the food, clothing, and housing that person needs for their family.

I firmly hold with the idea that our country has the right to defend its borders both physically and economically. I just don’t want to see our national defense turn us into the kind of world that exists in my books.

KM