Posted on 05/02/2006 9:58:56 AM PDT by LS
Yesterday, we were treated to an example of "a day without a Mexican," as one of the posters at my university put it. Odd, I really didn't notice their absence, or conversely, their presence, except, perhaps, that we had homemade chili for dinner.
But let's consider a "happening" with momentous impact: a day without an American.
Let's begin with the most basic of all the benefits the United States has provided over the years, freedom and security for millions upon millions of people. Let's say there was no American Army, and no American atomic bombs, in Europe circa May 1945. Where, exactly, do you think the Red Army would have stopped? Paris? Madrid? The Azores? True, for a single day, we could pull all Americans (especially American troops) out of Europe for a day and there would be little political effect. The "evil empire," if not dead, is at least in remission, and no one seriously fears French or German aggression anymore. But had there been no United States in 1945, even speaking of a free Germany---and likely a free France and Britain---would be fantasy. To consider the world from Vladivostok to Iceland under Soviet rule makes one shudder more than "Saw III" or "Hostel." Grenada, South Korea, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and many other targets in the communist crosshairs would all be enslaved if there was a day without an American; Japan and Taiwan almost certainly would be part of the Communist Chinese empire; and even Australia might be in a state of seige.
Would all of this happen in a single day without an American? No. But it does point out the way history would have changed had no Americans been there, day after day.
In the area of economics and business, a single "day without an American" would be calamitous for Europe. American investment, invention, innovation, and markets are, in large part, all that keeps the sick European economy staggering along at all. Merely denying England loans in the 1930s would have resulted in Hitler taking the island due to the inability to fund the British military.
Worldwide, a day without Americans is a day in which millions are condemned to slavery and oppression. In Afghanistan alone, a day without an American would result in millions of women being virtual sex slaves. In Iraq, a day without an American soldier would equal thousands of civilian deaths---deaths prevented by our brave troops protecting the Iraqis until they can protect themselves, if, indeed, Saddam were still in chains. If he was again free, a day without an American would result in an occupied Kuwait, and likely Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Bahrain. Elsewhere in the Middle East, a day without an American would mean a Libya armed with WMDs, under the control of an utter lunatic.
What about charity worldwide? Let's test what would happen to medical clinics, churches, missions, educational and agricultural programs without Americans, even for a day. Watch how instantly much of the philanthropic worldwide base disappears without the USA. We are bombarded with infomercials about how "for just $1 a day you can feed a child in South America or Africa." Fine. So if 280 million Americans withdraw their charitable donations, how many millions starve? Remove American aid programs for farming---even for a day---and the disruption would be astronomical.
What would Europe, Asia, and much of the Third World do about their underclass if there was a day without an American? Who would they blame? How many civil wars would ignite? Arab states especially would find it nearly impossible to exist without an American to castigate---although to be truly accurate in this experiment, this part would also demand a "day without an Israeli."
What would happen to the oil-export-dependent states with no Americans to buy gas for a day? How many would collapse? How long would it take for Hugo Chavez to get the tip of the boot? India, notorious for copying American technology, but equally notorious for its inability to create original concepts, would find itself a Remora fish with no shark to latch onto. The fact that the University of California Berkeley by itself has more Nobel Prize winners than any other nation says all you need to know about a day without an American scientist, thinker, engineer, researcher, or inventor.
As a nation of legal immigrants, a day without an American might likely mean that the former prime ministers of Ireland and Israel never would have survived, for they came from the United States. A day without an American would mean that the very best of Cuba, which is in Miami and Tampa, would again be in the iron grip of Fidel Castro.
A day without an American would mean a day without Steve Jobs and the personal computer revolution he founded; without Bill Gates and Marc Andreasson, and the worldwide networking they have helped develop; without widespread use of inexpensive cars, thanks to Henry Ford; without commercial air travel, thanks to the Wrights; and without Starbucks. (This alone would cause the collapse of half the nations on the planet!)
But will a day without an American happen? I doubt it.
We don't need to march or protest to show how important we are. There is no endzone celebration, no international Sharpie---we don't need it.
We know how imporant we are, and it's not ego, it's fact.
Here's the dirty little secret: they all know it too!
I can't tell where the gas I bought this morning is from,but
there was no label on it saying "Made in MX"
Traffic was MUCH BETTER than usual Monday.
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