Get Out Your Map and Darts

Let's go to war!

Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Egypt, and Israel... Oh-man!

Perhaps this is what we need.. I mean, the Great Depression was finally put behind us when WWII started, right?

Personally, I think this is scary bullshit. Everyone is talking about horrible, crazy Gadhafi killing his own people.. and maybe he isn't a nice guy, maybe innocent people are being killed, but put it into perspective. If we armed ourselves with AK-47s and such and rioted in the streets, calling for an end to our current administration... Maybe we wouldn't be bombed exactly, but we wouldn't just be asked to quiet down and please take our guns home. There would be serious repercussions and people would die. Why don't they say THAT on CNN?

We don't need to get involved in the mess in the Middle East. The United States is NOT the U.N. We need to stop policing and trying "save" the world. Sure, I am all for playing an active roll in the United Nations. I don't even mind if our forces make up the majority of the U.N. "peace-keeping" forces. Maybe this is just a political view point. The rest of the world seems so quick to judge whether we did or didn't get involved in some foreign drama. If we don't, we should have... If we do, we're just overstepping and getting involved in things we don't belong in. At least under the cloak of the U.N. it isn't a matter of the busybody Americans sticking their noses in other people's business.

Personally, I think that if we go in somewhere and spend money and lives trying to fix another country's problems, we should just take them over. I'm sure that's not a popular opinion, but to me it seems more realistic. We're always worried about the Middle East, either terrorists or oil prices. In both instances, they have us by the short hairs. We will step in to one of these crises in the Middle East, this has been going on for just a couple of weeks and gas prices are already at or near $4.00 a gallon. The American people can't handle much more and the government can't just magic up a few million electric cars for us. I'm not saying this is a "GOOD" reason to get involved... and I'm sure if and when we do, we won't admit that is why we're doing it, but the truth is... they have what we need and we've forgotten how to survive without it.

I have to say, I am proud to be an American. I feel fortunate that I was born in a country that has granted me rights just because I breathe. I'm not viewed as less simply because I'm a woman. I don't have to fear for my life because the current government has a different religion than I do. As a child, education was REQUIRED. I have clean water and access to safe food. It was expected that, as a child, my parents would provide for me and treat me a certain way. It is expected that I will do the same for my child.. and if I don't, there are agencies to help me or ensure that my child gets what he deserves. The government can't control who I can sleep with or when I can do so.. never mind public stonings or whippings for doing what I choose in that matter. I have these rights because my predecessors fought, protested, and spoke out for them. Other countries didn't step in to help silence our collective voices. My country has it's problems, as every country does.. but I am thankful that I wasn't born in the Middle East, or Africa, or Indonesia, or a hundred different places where those securities aren't an everyday fact of life.

Revolution and civil war are ugly, but it's a natural progression in the development and maturation of a nation. These are the tools that have won democracy to those around the world lucky enough to have it. Who are we to interfere with a nation's natural progression, but if we do.... call it for what is. Be honest about the motives, don't just hide under the cloak of "peace-keeping" missions.