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........I read what’s published on these pages and the e-mails from friends and relatives and I see total and absolute blindness.
- Steve Hopkins
...............Steve's Page...............Synergy Home
........Why would anyone think that politics are responsible for the attacks on America? Since when does foreign policy in any part of the world become “terrorism”? Since when are we to expect the death of our citizens’ en mass, just to make a point, to be morally ok! We are not isolationists and have always looked outward to other countries for the ways that they can benefit us. Why not? We’re not imperialistic in any sense of the word. We don’t want anyone’s land or resources that they don’t want to sell. We’ll pay a fair price. When we protect our own interests in foreign lands we do it with the least amount of involvement possible to get the job done. All politicians (pronounced governments) have made bad choices and mistakes. So what? Does that mean we have to be targets for some religious zealot who has visions of being god? I don’t think so.
........Our new Swedish friend who likes to list things comes from a small unassuming country that has it’s own serious problems. And yet he can list 20 years of foreign policy mistakes in the USA. Can he also show us Sweden’s list of foreign policy decisions that had some affect on the world? What was Sweden’s official policy on any of the items listed in his lopsided piece. All governments will back the wrong players occasionally. All governments will be lied to by Noriegas of the world. Power corrupts. When you’re dealing with countries as poor as the ones we’ve tried to help, is it any wonder that the leaders get greedy and the people suffer because of it? Should we stop trying to help? When your choices are bad and worse, which would you choose? Maybe it would be best to turn your back entirely?
........All governments should try to protect the interests of their own people. It’s what governments are for! And those giant greedy corporations everyone loves to lay into are one of the reasons this country is as great as it is. That we can do anything technologically, medically, agriculturally, architecturally is amazing. I feel pretty certain that most of the people reading this are either employees of one of those giants or in some way very dependent on them. We are the greatest country on earth and in my lifetime I have never seen us actually flaunt that.
........US foreign policy changes as the world changes. We are not government fundamentalists or extremists. We are not locked into decisions that cannot change and we shouldn’t be. That’s what freedom is about. We have backed some really crappy players in the world and I don’t agree with many of the decisions our government has made. But we live by the rule of popular decision in this country. Even though our government thought Viet Nam was the right thing to do, when popular opinion became strong enough we bailed out. Now our soldiers go back on their own and build schools and roads and try to rebuild a country they helped destroy. We backed the very people we are now fighting, against the Soviet Union. Now we are joined with the Russians to fight the people we backed. What irony. Could we know the outcome of our actions ten or twenty years ago. No. It was just another foreign policy decision. Like it or not.
........September 11, 2001 wasn’t a culmination of foreign policy. It was a blatant and sick attack on the freedoms that you and I have. It was jealousy. It was ignorance. It was a small time religious dictator playing god. With an agenda of his own, forcing his will on not only us but the entire world. I may not be the toughest or the strongest or the bravest, but I wouldn’t take that crap from anyone. Not at home, not anywhere in the world. And anyone who knows me knows that’s true. Because I’m a free man in America. It may not be perfect but it’s where I choose to live.
........I say to all those who can’t decide or who feel it’s too much pain, trouble or inconvenience to defend themselves or their country. Don’t worry, there are lots of people who will do it for you. There are lots of free men and women who will defend you. You live in the greatest, most powerful country in the world.