Opinion: Make America important again
By REID HARLOCKER
Special to The Press
Wednesday’s Press editorial reminded me about the power of words, even a favorite Capitalist expression like, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Fear, what a powerful motivator it is and during times without direction or crisis people tend to roll over and say oh well, what can I do about the situation? Rational thinking goes right out the window and something sinister fills our minds. No way out, this is bound to wreak havoc on our lives. Oh damn those Chinese anyway.
What many seem not to consider is that it’s not all China’s fault. We blame them for wanting to have what we take for granted? The Chinese are just good business people who are taking advantage of opportunity.
So what’s wrong with that? Is it wrong that their government is more pro business than the rest of the planet? Yes and no. There are problems with China. Fairness, environmental management and their courts are inconsistent to put it nicely, but that will change. The markets dictate that if they don’t, barriers will gradually rise to force these issues.
The President’s recent travels to Asia-Pacific powerhouses: India, Japan, Korea and Indonesia prove this. The APEC countries are having a difficult time with the Chinese too, and they are looking to the US to lend support. Besides a big military stick, the US has the dominant currency, impartial court system and is viewed as the world’s leading capitalist marketplace. The APEC countries align with the US, not with China. They believe in fair competition and justice.
We Americans are the richest population on this planet and we must accept that the rest of the world has decided to be like we are. And why not, with the proliferation of American television across the planet and with the advent of social media, the world is at everyone’s fingertips and it looks pretty good if you live in, say Cairo. Even in countries like Syria, communist for 60 years, casinos are now open and wealth is being developed in factories making goods for export to other Arab countries.
Then witness Egypt where centuries of what amounts to tribal rule came crashing down in less than three weeks. Times are rapidly changing and America is becoming less important every day because the rest of the world realizes they can do it on their own terms. Instead of being customers or beholden, the world is becoming competitors for jobs and for the same resources shared by all. This is classic supply and demand on a global scale. The Capitalist fan club is expanding rapidly and we are upset by this? Americans need to realize that for a long time we’ve accepted that it’s OK to pollute and take advantage of cheap labor elsewhere so that we can have cleaner air and lower prices everyday at Walmart. Come on! You all know this is true, our shirts come from Vietnam, petroleum is refined in Canada and minerals for industry come off the backs of laborers in countries where the profit goes to a few elites at the top.
America is also the world’s food basket. We have the water, the land and the know-how to feed ourselves, have enough to export and even help others who are less fortunate than we are. And America has untapped resources too, some of the richest in the world, but they are untapped because of costly and unnecessary legal tiger traps set by environmentalists with legions of lobbyists and lawyers.
Why? Why are we allowing good jobs to go elsewhere and why are we complacent about polluting another man’s country? This has to change. America has ingenuity and ability to move beyond doing things the old way. It is time to tap the resources we have, to pay down our debt and to grow the economy while lessening inflation and moving beyond the carbon society at the same time. Running out of oil is not a matter of if, it’s when. No matter what your view is on climate change. The bottom line is that pollution does stink.
The time of reckoning is upon us. We must take control of our finances and commit to restarting wealth industries here at home. The consequences are obvious, as are the results of a commitment to change. Just look to the north at Canada, where the nation’s emerging energy industry and bountiful agriculture are creating stellar growth and a strong currency.
If we don’t take advantage of what we have here and stop shopping away from home this nation will continue to grow its debt, lifestyles will erode further and America will no longer be a nation of opportunity. The time has come to stop looking back, stop blaming our industries for mistakes made before and to look forward and take control of our own future.
Reid Harlocker is a Hayden Lake resident who travels the globe extensively.