Nothing defies human logic as would a paradox. That’s because in trying to resolve one, a human being looks like the dog that’s trying to bite its tail. It goes round and round trying to get the mouth close to the tail, but the more it gets closer to its goal, the farther away the tail goes.
This lesson
and a few others can be derived from the latest of Clifford D. May’s creation which
came under the title: “No better enemy,” and the subtitle: “America continues to empower its
adversaries.” It is a column that was published on January 23, 2024 in The
Washington Times.
The first
thing that the writer did to expand on his theories, is clobber the reader on
the head using the dopiest sledge hammer he could get his hands on. Look what
he did as he attempted to explain his stance regarding the Iran-America
standoff: He first suggested – as seen in the title of his article – that you
must not empower your enemy. This implies he means to say: what’s mine should
remain with me, and what’s yours should remain with you.
But then,
Clifford May went on to lament that the Obama administration transferred to
Iran’s rulers the $150 billion that has been theirs for years, but was kept by
the Americans and their allies in an act that could not be described as
anything but theft. And this poses the paradoxical question: Can you rob
someone, yet let him keep what’s his? A breakdown in human logic might let you
get away with so shabby a performance, but that will look no better than the
dog biting its tail after all.
This done,
Clifford May transited to another aspect of his theories. He did so by
asserting that: “Iran is not the
only adversary of America that Americans have been empowering.” And so the
writer took on Xi Jinping whom he views as being the powerful leader of China.
The
paradoxes that emerge from the relationships that China has developed with
America over the years, are so complex and intertwined, they make the Iran
situation look like child play. In fact, it would be a good idea in this case
to begin the conversation by reminding the readers it was the Americans who
called themselves “Exceptional”.
They
explained this was the case because they relied on their scientific and
economic advancements on the immigrants they have been inviting to come into
the country from around the world. And those immigrants, mostly of Chinese
origin, do well in school, and do even better when they start new businesses in
which they hire Americans by the thousands, paying them high salaries.
This means
that the Chinese have more of what America needs than does America itself. This
being the case, it cannot be claimed that the Chinese are stealing science and
wealth from an America that has little or nothing which may be useful to them.
But look what Clifford May says: “US
companies and investment funds have helped to underwrite and modernize China’s
military and intelligence apparatus.”
And this poses the
paradoxical question: “Can
America rely on the superior genius and enterprise of the Chinese, yet help
modernize what is above its own level of comprehension and work ethic”?
Because
paradoxes do not help resolve intricate questions, we must resort to the power
of human logic when looking for solutions to hard questions. So we ask: What
has gone wrong with America?
The first
thing we notice when trying to answer that question, is that America suffers
from two ailments. One has to do with the system of political governance (The Congress
of infamy) which has been beaten to a complete paralysis by entities that
transformed it into a tool meant to serve their own interests.
The other ailment
is the system of education which has come to the attention of those same
entities. They are doing to it what they did to the Congress using the powers
of the Congress itself.
It’s a lamentable situation that may not have a satisfactory resolution.