Romney wants to build a masochist America

Mitt Romney wrote an article in which he basically says this: We need to strengthen our military to protect our democracy because it is the best system in the world, and it made us wealthy and powerful. But why the need to strengthen the military at this time? Because other non-democratic nations are getting wealthy, and they are strengthening their militaries. They are doing it so fast, they will soon surpass us. Bang! Mitt Romney just demolished the picture he painted of America.

He tells what Russia, China, Iran and the newly formed Islamic State are doing that he dislikes. He then observes that Washington is slashing the military, and complains that “reason stares.” He does that in an article that came under the title: “The need for a mighty U.S. military,” which he published on September 4, 2014 in the Washington Post. When done with the telling, he picks the arguments that were advanced by other people to justify what he calls the “decimation of our defenses,” and refutes them one by one.

He rejects President Obama's idea of forging a world based on a common humanity because, he says, that while all peoples may agree there is evil, different people have different values and different views which make them differ on what is evil and what is good. He does not say whether this is the result of nature or nurture. That is, he does not answer the question as to whether some people have different cultures that can be altered, or if they are genetically inferior and cannot be made to change.

You would expect that after what he said in occupied Palestine, something to the effect that Jews are superior to Palestinians – a comment he made while running for president, and for which he was paid a million dollars – he would have wanted to take this opportunity to address the controversy that ensued or apologize for what he said. But he failed to do so because it is obvious that the man is tone deaf and robotic in his approach to life.

Romney also rejects the idea of a multipolar world because what is emerging are not poles like Australia, Canada, France or Britain, he says, but poles like China, Russia and Iran, which he predicts will engage in “bullying, invasions and regional wars” as they seek to conquer other nations, thus unleash a world war. Here again, he does not say why it would not be possible to reach some kind of accommodation with these nations. Does he believe that their people are incapable of acting rationally because they are an inferior race?

And he rejects the idea that America will be left alone if it withdrew its military from the world, letting Iran, China, Russia and the jihadists do what they want. He gives a stern response to this suggestion: “No, we would not.” He goes on to suggest that (like cannibals) power-hungry tyrants will feast on appeasers, and ultimately feed on Americans too. He warns that trade routes will be disrupted by them, and that global markets will be hit with turmoil. This is why “global peace and stability are in our immediate national interest,” he goes on to say.

Well, the idea that two oil exporting countries: Iran and Russia, as well as China whose massive economy rests almost entirely on trading with the world, will disrupt the trade routes, is so absurd, you wonder if Romney has any clue at all as to what is going on out there. The problem he faces is encapsulated in this passage: “The arguments for shrinking the military reveal [that] programs are putting pressure on the federal budget: We either cut defense, or cut spending on ourselves, or raise our taxes.” What this means in simple English is that America may still be wealthy in absolute terms, but it is no longer that wealthy when compared to the emerging “poles” discussed earlier.

And this is why it happens that while some people “insist that our military is much stronger,” Romney and other people argue it is more relevant “that Russia's nuclear arsenal is significantly greater than our own and that, within six years, China will have more ships in the navy than we do.” And then, being the tone deaf that he is, he fails to hear himself utter absurdities.

And here is another Romney absurdity. Having made the point that despite the fact the other “Poles” are not democratic, they are getting wealthier and stronger militarily compared to America, he now tells how it all happened. Here is his account: “our military is tasked with many more missions than those of other nations.” But this is exactly what he wants to do more of. Why is that? Is he so masochistic – and loving it – that he wants to build an America in his image? Will it be a masochist America?