On the occasions when I find myself thinking about Rick Moran, (which are likely far more frequent than is healthy for one’s mental well being) I can not help but dwell on the word savant. Rick is the raconteur in charge of Right Wing Nuthouse, a contributing columnist at The American Thinker, and the recipient of numerous accolades and awards, not the least of which being the prestigious 2007 Aldous Huxley Prize, category: Best Use of the Word Nebraska in an Obituary for a non-Nebraskan. Why is it, this causes me to wonder, that we only ever hear about idiot savants? To be clear, Rick is no idiot, contrary to the frequent and intentional misspellings of his last name by various detractors. But he is surely a savant. Perhaps the term cynic savant would fill the bill. He certainly shares my healthy skepticism regarding our country’s current policy regarding China, though that is a stretch of the “p word” beyond any definition required by courtesy or grammar. The following is in response to the decision by our president to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing this summer.
From Iran, to the Congo, to Burma – where western countries tried unsuccessfully to enter and alleviate the horrific suffering caused by the typhoon that hit Burma on May 2 – China has seen fit to block, impede, ignore, and otherwise discombobulate efforts to resolve these problems and protect the peace or save lives.
This is the reality of living with a China that is beginning to flex its muscles on the world stage. Quiescent for 600 years, China is back with a vengeance and while cooperating in a very limited sphere of priorities, the Dragon prefers to go its own way. It is procuring oil deals in the Middle East, trade deals in South America, and beginning to dominate its neighbors in East Asia economically.
In 1938, Winston Churchill gave one of his lesser remembered speeches to the House of Commons wherein he stated, “What I find unendurable is the sense of our country falling into the power, into the orbit and influence of Nazi Germany, and of our existence becoming dependent upon their good will or pleasure.” Transplanted to 2008, Churchill could have been speaking of the United States’ relationship with China. The Dragon (along with many other questionable actors in the Middle East) now holds so much of our paper and such a dominating trade balance with us that they have stacked all the cards in their favor. As such, a shopping analogy might be in order, wherein we have allowed China to hold our purse for so long while we try things on that we have failed to realize they’ve stolen our credit cards and emptied the wallet.
China’s actions have been beyond disreputable for the entire modern era. The fact that we have mortgaged any influence over them away is the fault of decades of poor governance. They are now stretching not only their role as an economic superpower, but a military one as well. (And this is above and beyond the already impressive fact that they can field an army with more men than we have bullets.) A shooting war with China is unthinkable, but it remains equally clear that we need a government who will summon the required discipline to lift the economic yoke from our shoulders and regain the standing to challenge them on their many flawed, if not outright evil positions in the international community.