Now that 9-11-11 has passed it seems appropriate to ask some tough questions that seem to be without easy answers. There are questions that existed on 9-12-01 and still linger today. Questions that thousands of our men and women in the uniform have died for even before clear answers have been found. Just this weekend, 80 of our uniformed heroes were injured in Afghanistan.
I heard a sound bite from our president this weekend from his campaign. He proclaimed that in the future, America would define its objectives and articulate national interest before it sent our military to a foreign land. While we have started to pull out of the quagmire in Iraq, we have increased our presence in Afghanistan. While I am not the most learned person walking the streets, I do try to pay attention to what is going on in the world. I still can’t figure out exactly what our goal is in Afghanistan other than to prop it up and prevent it from imploding under the stress of ancient tribal anxieties and the greed of local warlords. Best I can tell, we have friends there as long as we pay them to be our friends. Even then, they are not true friends. They are just the best friends money can buy.
Is what we are doing in the middle east worth bankrupting our own country? I remember hearing how the oil in Iraq would cover the tab for our work there. I have yet to hear about any boon to the US from oil in Iraq. In fact, since we have been there, the price of gas has only steadily risen. Is feeding the poor in other areas of the world really more important than feeding the poor here in America? We have mortgaged the future of our country in the last decade of nation building and there seems to be no plan for paying of the note. We refuse to tax the rich and seek to only to squeeze the lower class by shipping jobs overseas and offering college educations with tuition rising faster than inflation.
Even those graduating college with large student loan debt can’t find a job because the economy is growing at a dismal one percent. What does the future hold and where are we going? No one has a crystal ball, but we need to start looking for some answers outside of every man, woman, and interest for itself. If we don’t figure out where we are going as a country and improve the way we deal with our respective differences, the future likely holds more problems than promise.
How many among us can articulate exactly why we were attacked one decade ago? It is an important question and one that, unless clearly defined, is almost guaranteed to bring on a replay in the future. Like most people, I am sometimes better at asking questions than I am at answering them. There are a lot of questions that we as a country need to be asking and the right answers will help us maintain our position in the world. Rome wasn’t built, nor did it fall, in a day. No one is too big to fall. It is those who believe they are too big to fall that usually fall the hardest. Asking, and then demanding answers to your own questions, is the best way to stay on top. That is true for everybody, even those of us way up in the CHEAP SEATS!