Brave Old World

by Victor Davis Hanson - August 14th, 2008 - Townhall.com

In reality, to the extent globalism worked, it followed from three unspoken assumptions:

First, the U.S. economy would keep importing goods from abroad to drive international economic growth.

Second, the U.S. military would keep the sea-lanes open, and trade and travel protected.

[snip]

Third, America would ignore ankle-biting allies and remain engaged with the world -- like a good, nurturing mom who at times must put up with the petulance of dependent teenagers.

But there have been a number of indications recently that globalization may soon lose its American parent, who is tiring, both materially and psychologically.

The United States may be the most free, stable and meritocratic nation in the world, but its resources and patience are not unlimited.

It is time we started to slam nations who are clearly not our friends. A couple that come to mind are Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Both are enemies and are conducting actions that are clearly acts of war. An action we could take right now that would change that is to allow drilling now. This should include both off shore and in areas removed from our cities. As a part of the enabling legislation we need to expedite the leasing process, block the leases from lawsuits by environmental extremists, assure that tax breaks for oil corporations are dependent on investment in drilling, start a slowly escalating import duty on oil not drilled here in America and expedite new refineries to process the oil.

We need to expedite development of natural gas, oil shale and oil sands by providing more aggressive tax incentives for these fuels. We need to encourage economical use of oil by increasing fuel economy standards and reducing tax incentives for use of oil in energy intensive vehicles. We should not shoot ourselves in the foot by punishing trucking which very cost effectively moves our produce.

We also need to look harder at all countries that oppose us, such as China and India. They are not going to import our goods to make up for our open doors because we are such gullible suckers. Stop this idiocy and make it clear, open up your borders too or watch ours close.