What In Store from 2009 for 2010 - #4

Monday, December 28, 2009

And I thought that al-Queda didn't believe in Christmas...

As we can see from the thwarted Christmas surprise on Friday, nothing is scared for our enemies when it comes to attempts to defeat America through the use of terrorism. If there is something to take from 2009 into the coming year, it is this:

The more we focus exclusively on domestic matters as a nation, the more that our international enemies will hope that we continue to do so, even as they plan to harm America.

The continued march of terrorism against the United States only feeds into a cycle that has been repeated earlier in American history. From FDR to Reagan, those on the left have argued that "war-mongering" presidents have been too focused on international threats such as Hitler and the Soviet Union, thus taking away precious resources from domestic issues desperately in need of attention and money.

History shows us that even with liberal calls for "negotiations with Hitler" in order to avoid war (including some questionable positions by Ambassador Joe Kennedy regarding the growing war in the 1930) and other demonstrations against Reagan for ending the Cold War, without FDR's foresight and Reagan's push, we would not be the same nation (that is, free and independent) as we are today.

Many times, history serves as a mirror to reflect our current realities and serve as a roadmap for near-future endeavors.

We can go ahead, continuing to think that President Obama and the folks in Washington should make health care and other domestic issues top priority over international affairs. If we do, the scares from the terror plots in Dallas, New York, and (recently) Detroit will become screams stemming from the successful plots of al-Queda and other enemies, causing us to see another tragic situation unfold on American soil.

The "esteem" coming from our global neighbors through the election of President Obama has not yet materialized. Many European nations have scoffed by American notions that European nations have some accountability in regards to issues blamed exclusively on the United States. Nations such as Iran have ignored the well-wished and intentions for diplomacy by the United States, continuing down their paths to creating more turbulence for the global community. All of this - and other incidents from nations such as North Korea - comes at a time when more Americans (similar to the times post-World War I and pre-World War II) believe that the nation's focus must move away from these threats and towards (almost exclusively) domestic issues. Rallies stating that there is a waste of resources (including money and, more importantly, lives) keeps incurring with losses in domestic affairs as a result miss the point: the American government exists with the primary purpose of protecting Americans.

If we take this continue persistence to look inward towards our domestic challenges with a big government perspective while looking away from our government's big responsibility to be proactive in advancing American sovereignty, we will continue to hear of terroristic "near-misses" until one day, we incur another 9/11 on our soil. We will have only more stories of terror plots on American soil that found ways to beat the system, even as domestic policies concerning health care reform, open borders or amnesty, and increased pressure to divert money from the military and into education and universal healthcare will be hammered through the media into the collective psyche of everyday Americans.

Domestic issues are important, but international issues threatening the USA always take precedent. Failure to be proactive in this realm will no longer provide us the opportunity for second chances as it did in previous times. As the world is shrinking, so, too, is our protection without the proactive focus of the United States towards its primary duties to ensure "...life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness..."

If we continue to lose out on this important principle, expect 2010 to incur more losses internationally - with a strong prayer and hope that that does not include too many American lives due to our collective negligence for both the signs around us and the cues from history before us.