Once upon a time there was a young Sheppard boy who was taking his turn watching the sheep of the village. He soon became bored and decided to play a trick on his fellow villagers. He cried “Wolf! A wolf is chasing the sheep.” The villagers ran to the screaming boy armed with axes, knives, and all manner of objects to protect the sheep and chase the wolf away. When the villagers arrived they found the boy laughing. The villagers scorned him for playing such a cruel trick on them and returned to the village. A few days later this same boy was again watching the sheep and was getting bored. He decided once again to play a trick on the villagers and began to yell, “Wolf! A wolf is chasing the sheep.” The villagers like before ran to aid the screaming boy and again found him double over laughing. They scorned him for his awful trick and returned to the village.
A few days later the boy was again watching the sheep when the villagers heard him screaming, “Wolf! A wolf is chasing the sheep.” The villagers had had enough of this boy’s antics and decided to ignore the plea and keep on doing what they were doing. As the sun began to set the villagers became worried because the boy hadn’t returned with the sheep. They set out to see what was wrong and found several dead sheep and the rest were scattered all over the valley. They soon sound the boy crying under a tree. They asked him what was wrong and the boy answered with tears running down his cheeks. “A wolf appeared and starting chasing the sheep so I called out but no one came.” “Why didn’t you come?” The villagers answered, “no one believes a liar even when he’s telling the truth.”
I believe President Obama is acting like the boy in the story. Ever since becoming President he was proclaimed gloom and doom to the economy if we didn’t pass what he wanted immediately. He accused anyone that disagrees with him as playing politics and not having the best interest of American in mind. After passing the stimulus bill the gloomy predictions continued if we didn’t pass the Omnibus Spending Bill things would get worse and the list goes on. His constant fear mongering about how we have to act or we are all doomed has rallied the people several times to support legislation that no sane person would support under normal circumstances and that has little or nothing to do with the current problem. Obama is becoming that boy and when he needs to rally the American people to a real crisis that we can actually control we are not going to believe him. He will have lost our trust and respect and it will be for the doom of us all.
It all comes back to the economy. It’s easy to blame capitalism for our current predicament but it doesn’t make it true. I have no desire to rehash for the bazillionth time the hows & why’s of the collapse but it was not capitalisms fault. Capitalism is what made our country what it is today. Socialism while on the surface has some appealing aspects helping the poor and needy has failed time and time again.
Recessions are a normal occurrence in capitalism. I would compare it to fire for forests. Even though fire is initially destructive to a forest it serves an even greater good. Burnt trees fall and are used as shelter for all sorts of animals, from insects to birds and will eventually erode and enrich the soil so new trees and plants can grow. Some trees can’t survive without fire. “The Lodgepole Pine, for example, needs fire; the heat opens its serotinous cones and releases seeds for germination.” Out of the fire come new trees that are stronger for being born out of the destruction.
Recessions are ways for the market to clean up and get rid of bad companies that only drag the economy down. The main thing we can learn is that both are natural. We cannot and should not seek to control them. Mother Nature has proven that she is in control and its way past time that we can’t control the market as much as we might think. The more governments past and present have tried to control recessions the worse and longer they have become. Once a recession has run its course and fixed the problems made by bad companies and stupid government policies things will begin to turn around. Obama should stop worrying about never allowing a “good crisis to go to waste” and allow the market to fix itself instead of trying to play Father Market.

A jubilant crowd of over 200,000 Berliners gathered to hear the Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama speak last month. I have to admit it was a great speech but if you look at the words it’s devoid of any real substance. Well, I take that back, it’s devoid of any real substance other than the subtle socialist remarks about “The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand.” “But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together.” “Now is the time to join together, through constant cooperation, strong institutions…to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
I am not blogging to talk about Obama’s speech or even Obama himself. That will come at a later date. I decided to write this blog about the 200,000 plus Berliners and tens of millions more Europeans who for the most part have sat out the War on Terror. They are once again appeasing the very people who seek to destroy them. I have heard the argument too many times to count, that Bush with his unilateral policies has severely weakened our relationship with Europe. I really don’t care what Europe thinks about us anymore. Europe, due to their own naivety and unwillingness to act, will once again be covered with the fog of a completely preventable war.
When Hitler began rebuilding his military all of Europe stood by and did nothing. As Hitler annexed Austria all of Europe started complaining a little but did nothing. When Hitler annexed the Sudetenland Europe again did nothing. It was only in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland did Europe stand up to him and say no more, but alas, it was too late. When the Germans were marching on Warsaw the Pole’s hoped and waited for the British and French to come to their rescue, but no one came. The Poles charged the German tanks on horseback knowing that it was suicide but believing that the rest of Europe would come to their rescue, but no one acted. They fought in the streets of Warsaw out trained, out gunned, and out numbered. They fought bravely but against the might of the German blitzkrieg they didn’t stand a chance. The hope that their British and French saviors would come was misplaced.
Much like Poland we have been waiting for Europe to arise from their slumber. The terrorists have bombed New York, D.C., London, and Madrid; instead of standing up to the enemy most of Europe has brushed it off and kept on sleeping. Once again they fail to understand the saying, “if you give a man a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk.”
When Reagan went to Berlin in 1987 to give his now famous "Tear Down This Wall” speech only 20,000 came to hear it. In fact there were more protestors than there were supporters. Many Berliners thought that America’s arrogance would lead to another world war, once again making Berlin and West Germany a battleground. You can’t complain or get upset over their concerns but what the Germans failed to understand as they still due today is that you can’t appease an aggressor be it fascist, communist, or terrorist. If I have learned anything in my study of history is as long as a dictator is having successes either politically or militarily he’ll never stop. He is much like a school bully. He’ll steal your lunch money forever unless you stand up for yourself pop him in the nose. Alexander the Great would have spent his whole life conquering the world if he hadn’t died at the age of 32. Hitler wanted to start a thousand year Reich that would rule the world. The terrorist talk of a war that will bring on the end of the world and usher in the return of the 12th Imam.
I understand that war is an ugly business. Only a crazy person would actually want one! If history has taught us anything it’s that “aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged, ultimately leads to war” (Pres. JFK).
We have a choice to make. We can either follow Europe and wait for the war to come to us as it did in 1939 or we can continue to go after the terrorists in Afghanistan and around the world. More than 400,000 Americans lost their lives fighting a war that could have been prevented if Europe had told Hitler to shut up. How many millions of Europeans could have been spared if Neville Chamberlain would have seen Hitler as the man he was? We cannot afford to let Europe's feelings toward us dictate our foreign policy. They might loathe us. They might call us arrogant and burn our flag in their streets but when the figurative tanks are once again lined upon Europe’s borders, they’ll once again realize that they failed to see the danger until it was too late. That they once again were asleep at the wheel while their enemies were plotting, planning, and scheming their destruction. They through their naivety will cost them much more than it would have if they would have just acted when the first smoke cloud was seen in the distance. Then once again "the pride of our nation" will be sent to fight and die for a people who were too blind to defend themselves when they still had a chance. Let's all hope that Europe will open their eyes and see the world as it really is, not as they wish it to be.
“It has been twenty-one years since that day on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay when World War II came to and end. Perhaps it reflects poorly on our world that men must fight limited wars to keep from fighting larger wars; but that is the condition of the world.” (President Lyndon Johnson)