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Do you think we have too many of our own difficulties to even lift a finger to assist the European Union? You think? While they struggle to balance their world amidst insolvent national governments using the same coin of the realm as the stronger Union members, wouldn’t it be ironic if Germany ended up saving Europe, about 70 years after its disgraced former savior tried to destroy it? Can Germany do it alone, or maybe with a little help from France? What other country can stand tall enough to keep financial ruin from sweeping the land and allowing social upheaval to replace civilized behavior and peace in the kingdom? How large are their peacekeeping forces? And have they stockpiled food and water? And medicine and temporary shelters?
How about the United States? Where do you think we fit in to the situation in Europe right now? Should we watch from a distance, pretending we are immune from the fallout? Should we chatter from across the water and tell them we know how to do it but won’t show them because that would be helping our competitor? If you eliminate your competitor, do you have another entertaining contest coming up, or is the season finished? True and final elimination means no “wait until next season” because there will be no more seasons of friendly competition.
Are you of the belief that our hemisphere is truly separate from theirs? Do you think their economic mess is totally disconnected from ours? What pet rock have you been hiding under? Did you not see the world reverberate from the financial crash of 2008? If I am not mistaken, the effects that started in one country were felt around the world, and the most technically advanced countries (like ours) felt it the most.
So should we turn inward and focus on our problems here at home and ignore the rest of the world? I suggest not. I don’t think we can afford to think we are safe from collateral damage from European debt adjustment and liquidation. I think we have to look at it as an early indication of where to attack and solve our own problems. I submit that we should find a way to help them now and not be afraid to obligating their resources to help us someday, when it will be our turn to need assistance. Can we afford to? Can we afford not to?
It’s like saying “I am too tired to sleep” or “I don’t have time to exercise and eat healthy food, so I won’t make those choices – and then spite myself by dying young”. The wisdom of experience and historical events should help us avoid making the same mistakes over and over again. I think it would be a mistake to remain ignorant and avoid getting involved in what the European Union is facing right now. It will only hasten our demise and we won’t have the friends to get through our own tough times. Or did you just want to become China’s concubine?
It seems that it might be a really good idea to pay very close attention to what the EU powers are working on. Become a student of that arena and you might understand our own problems better. There will be some difficult choices for Americans to make in the near future. Pitching in over there will be our rehearsal for what we will need to do here. If we get it right over there, the problems here will remain manageable. If we stay out of it, ignore Europe and focus only on our own navel, we won’t know what hit us when it eventually hits us.
What do I know about any of this? Nothing, really; just a hunch that we should pay close attention to Europe right now.
Reposted on June 17, 2012 from August 17, 2011, due to the timeliness of the Greek elections today and the importance of that event for the long term economic health of the USA.
