Certainly the laughing stock of Mexico, I see it every day in the local, Virginia, immigrant crowd. A few days ago an immigrant car passed with a Mexican flag bumper sticker, and below it a US flag upside down. Dyslexia you think?
But I don't think the rest of the "international crowd" gives much of a hoot one way or the other. And this is a critical insight. The rest of the world can today produce anything the United States does, as well or better. We are NOT the leading innovator (Ford, Lockheed, Apollo moon landings, etc.etc.) we once were, nor are we an ethical or principled leader we once were, witness the Clinton's character, Spitzer, Goldman Sachs - money-is-God boys, ad nauseum, nor do we have the independent resources we once did.
Think about it. There may be a whole lot of lip service in the shallow media about trusted "allies", "American prestige," primacy of the dollar, etc. but it is all phony. The vast majority of Americans are living either in the past or with their head in the sand. Does any American reader here really care about a rebel insurrection in Thailand, or unrest in the immigrant ghettos of Paris? Then conversely it is silly to project that any voting citizen of say France or Indonesia, really is going to make any sacrifice whatsoever for the prosperity of America. We saw this graphically in international support (lack of) for Iraq. (Mexico incidentally, ala Vicente Fox, REFUSED to contribute any troops).
Thus the tragic naivete of GWB, and the sinister motives of the US globalists. We are talking about a cabal of extraordinarily ruthless and self interested people. Eliot Spitzer is just a low level example, it goes a whole lot deeper.
It is time to back up to a little nationalism, Not isolationism, but nationalistic loyalty. The illegal immigration thing is a major aspect.
Ping!
I stopped reading your post right there.
The rest of the world can produce anything the US does, as well or better? C'mon, you don't really believe that.
Good observations. I referred to being the laughing-stock of the international community in the sense that in an age of international terrorism we are incapable of securing our own borders. I’m sure that not only the drug cartel and some Islamofascist terrorists are laughing but many rogue nations who see a Congress and an administration who are intent on securing Iraq’s borders but are oblivious to our own. Speaking of the Spitzer debacle, I notice the cable networks are now giving more coverage of the prostitute than to the very serious legal issues involved. What next? Will she be on the talk shows, promoting a book or making a film? It’s one more example of the race to the bottom in terms of the public’s capacity to remain serious about anything much longer than the 24 hour news cycle.