The United States has a geography that until recently worked greatly in our favor. Although the U.S. isn't an island nation it might as well be. Two vast oceans, a friendly country with great tracts of wilderness to the north, and southern neighbors that have been largely under our sphere of influence with the isthmus of Panama serving as a natural choke point. It's been hard to attack us unless you drive a truck bomb into buildings or commandeer airplanes.
The protection afforded by our geography is also our Achilles heel. As a young country we had sufficient resources for our own needs. Isolationists could make an argument that we were better off keeping the world at arm's length and not engaging in world affairs. Two world wars and the rise of Fascist and Communist threats of world domination revealed that to be a selfish and short-sighted argument. Today it is downright dangerous, as foolishly idealistic as the notion that everyone wants democracy and we are the best ones to deliver them into the cradle of freedom.
The energy and many other natural resources we need are now in the hands of countries where we have no claim to the goods other than the contracts we can negotiate. Colonial expropriation is not a tenable means of obtaining what we need. We face a bidding war with China, who has one-party rule and lots of cash – our cash – on hand.
China also does not face internal dissent if it ignores human rights in countries such as Myanmar, Sudan, or Guinea where it wants to do business. We tread lightly – dance around – the topic of human rights in China because we have put ourselves in a weakened position that will persist for some time. Maybe the Dalai Lama will say a prayer for us when he's finally allowed to visit the White House.
So while we celebrate those amber waves of grain – which feed much of the world – we also have to find a way to pull the extremes back to the center. We have to make clear that extremism in the United States is no more tolerable at home than the extremism we condemn in other countries. The Chinese have been shamed into moderating their stance on the genocide in Darfur. Perhaps it's time to deploy a little shame here at home and see if the shock jocks, vitriolic pundits and their rabid followers have any moral sense.
