Teddy Roosevelt

What republicans don’t get is that Teddy Roosevelt diplomacy only works when your opponent fears you. Today, the US isn’t feared, and in fact, makes our enemies more defiant against us.

If you don’t believe that think much damage 9/11 did to this country and how much it’s changed, all due to a small terrorist group lead by Osama bin Laden. They didn’t fear us, they planned and executed an attack against what the world stands for represented by the US. 

And all of the offshoot groups of Al Qaeda don’t fear us despite having the world largest and more powerful military. We carry the big stick but all our words doesn’t scare anyone or instill fear in them. And in fact it fighting the US was a recruitment tool by militias and terrorist groups in Iraq after the invasion.

That is what we have to change, ourselves to realize we’re not facing an enemy who fears our might, because they know we won’t use it enough to destroy them for that would engage them on their terms, make martyrs of them (against the US), and make our political diplomacy irrelevant.

The world has changed since 9/11 but we haven’t. It’s more complex and complicated where simple solutions espoused by republicans, and some democrats, is meaningless and irrelevant. It’s all meant to sell an image which doesn’t exist anymore.

And this image has put us in the position our military is the most expensive in the world, more than the rest of the major nations combined, more technological - from satellites to personnel - and more complicated. 

And yet doesn’t seem to make the world safer while making our enemies more brutal in their wars and defiant against the western world, especially the US. If you don’t believe it, look at all the places our military is located, working with government, some not so good, and fighting their and our enemies. 

Who’s winning? And who’s listening? And when will it end? Except there is no end, it’s the reality of the world today, notwithstanding all the Teddy Roosevelt rhetoric we hear from politicians.