Fading America

     As a last blog for the month of September, on its last day, I thought I would do a blog on a subject that no doubt many would find not to their liking.  Having been a keen follower and observer of world events and history, as well as American politics for the last half a century or so, and I have noted certain undesirable developments with dismay.
     In my younger days I was firmly convinced that America was just about the only country in the world that followed its principles of fairness, honesty, and integrity.  A country that stood for individual freedom and liberty for all, a true bastion of democracy and freedom.  When I first started voting, I made myself a promise to overlook party lines and to vote for the candidate, regardless of political party.  Initially, it wasn't very difficult to do so and from time to time I have voted across party lines.  Then things began to get somewhat fuzzy.  Regardless of the party, it was hard to determine which candidate was better, more honest and had integrity.  Then, starting with a few elections ago, I literally voted for the candidate that was lesser of two evils!  That is a horrible way to make your choice of candidates, but that is what has been happening.  I think American politics, presidential elections, have reached its nadir!  At this point, in this forthcoming election, it is definitely going to be a choice of lesser evil!  What a sad state of affairs!
     This situation, the lack of a viable presidential candidate, has led to the present state of America's lack of influence and standing in the world.  It isn't something that occurred overnight and we certainly can't blame it on the current candidates.  But the steady decline of America's standing and power in the world has really taken a rapid slide in the past decade.  A combination of lack of trust and confidence in America's leadership by the international community, and America's waning economic influence, combined to cause this rapid erosion of America's global standing.  You cannot lecture other countries on their behavior as Obama is fond of doing, when you do nothing to back up your own words.  It is a known fact that one of the most annoying things that world leaders find about Obama is his proclivity to lecture others, to take a "holier than thou" stance!  That only works if you practice what you preach!
     The game of international affairs is really no different from the interactions of a gathering of kids in the playground.  Within that gathering, there will always be a bully or bullies, and there will always be the kids that are picked-on, bullied.  Normally, there is always a leader in the group as well, the one that everyone sort of follows, the one that protected the weak from the bullies.  America was always that leader.....in the past!  On the international scene, we have bullies a plenty today, starting with Putin, then there is Iran (which we helped make even stronger!), there's North Korea, and there are scattered smaller groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS.  In the past we have stood up to those bullies and put them in their place.  Now we negotiate, give them money as we did with Iran, or just ignore them as we are doing with North Korea!  Meanwhile, we are getting deeper in debt to China, who also happens to be one of our main competitors for world leadership!  Putin managed to gain a lot of momentum and support through his bullying tactics and our inaction, and Iran has gain a lot of prestige and power in the Islamic world through our missteps and concessions to Iran (the Nuclear Deal).  We no longer have the standing in the world that we did even a decade ago.
     Just recently Egypt announced that it will be building a new Capital 25 miles south of the overcrowded current capital of Cairo.  The project will cost $45 Billion, money which Egypt does not have.  Guess who is going to build Egypt's new capital?  Why, China, of course!  China will finance the whole works!  I think you can safely assume that from this point on, that China will be Egypt's best buddy, closest political and military ally!  We have poured-in billions upon billions of tax payers' dollars into Egypt as foreign aide.  We gave them F-16 fighter jet technology, built a factory for them and provided technical expertise to get off the ground.  We did the same thing with the M-1 Abrams tanks, the state of the art, the best battle tank in the world.  Egypt is the only country in the world outside of the U.S. that has both an F-16 and M-1 Abrams factories!  Has this put Egypt any closer to us?  Are they our staunch allies in that part of the world?  Not very likely.  All of the recent events point to the fact that we are no closer to Egypt, after pouring-in all that money, than we were before!  It seems we just don't get it, don't know where to put in our effort to win over a friend.
     Although $45 Billion is far from being chump change, it is still a drop in the bucket compared to all the money we have poured into that country since Jimmy Carter held those famous Camp David talks with Sadat and Begin.  Now with just this one gesture, one investment, China will have a much bigger impact and influence with Egypt.  After all, who is going to remember the F-16s or M-1 Abrams tanks, or the billions that were given as aide which mostly ended up in the private Swiss accounts of Mubarak and other Egyptian officials!  But you point at the new, shiny capital, and everyone in Egypt and the Arab world will know that China built that city!
     This slippage, downslide of our standing in the world is not only due to our lack of "backing" our word, being more decisive in situations which would have prevented the current mess in Syria, and half a dozen other things.  But it all began at home, right here in the good old USA.  It actually began many years earlier when deserters and draft dodgers were given a pass.  Then to top it all off, we even elected a president who was a draft dodger!  I was dumbfounded at first when that happened.  But then I realized that attitudes had changed, the younger generation no longer thought it important to honor such things as service to our country.  Then the pledge of allegiance became a controversial topic.  Many schools stopped the practice because it was felt that it was the "constitutional right" for an individual not to do the pledge! Yes, it became a "constitutional right" for a 4th grader to not perform the pledge of allegiance.  Now it has even reached the athletic fields where certain athletes refuse to stand for the playing of the national anthem, and they are getting away with it!
     Discipline as such, doesn't seem to exist in our society any more.  It is considered "healthy" and "natural" for a person to vent their spleen, even in public.  Call it what you want, but the current rash of so-called "road rage" incidents is a perfect example of lack of self control, lack of discipline!Children run amok in public places like restaurants, and if anyone tries to curb their "healthy, natural" behavior, they will probably be arrested for child abuse, and that includes the parents as well!  This lack of discipline is transferred to other things and later in life as well.  Training NCOs, DIs have been complaining that more and more recruits arrive with absolutely no idea of what discipline is all about.  These young men and women are usually in a state of shock and normally quit the service in short time.  In high school and college, there have always been prima donna athletes, but today, it seems the sports programs are filled with entitled kids who expect to be treated special!  If a neighbor spots a parent disciplining (spanking) a child and reports it to the police, then the parent will more than likely be arrested for child abuse.  Children have been known to sue parents and "divorce" parents in today's world!  The first time I witnessed a mother "negotiating" with her 10 year old kid over the purchase of an overly expensive item, I was dumb struck.  Negotiate? Just tell the kid the thing is too expensive!  Anyway, you get the point.  With the society going in that direction, it is a small wonder that our government has become toothless and ineffective.
     It is a hard thing to accept that you are so old that you no longer fit into the common mold of the society, the society has changed so much that you have just become a grouchy old man!  Saying the pledge of allegiance or standing for the playing of national anthem is now optional, it is your constitutional right to do what you want, even if you are only a 4th grader.  Nobody fails, nobody loses, everyone is wonderful.  We are indeed living in a utopian society and I only have to choose the lesser of the two evils in November.  How great is that!