What This All Means

As I sit here, in gloomy contemplation of the Democrats' overwhelming victories coast to coast, I have to remember the sage advice of the wise old man to the young king, "No matter how good or bad this is, my son, it too shall pass."

After some reflection, however, I have come to see this election as much more important than I previously had thought. Now that the returns are in, no one can deny that the War in Iraq was the over-riding issue. What that means is pretty significant. Because what that means is that the United States will not be able to use military force outside of its own territory for at least 40 years; i.e., until long after I am gone.

Why do I say this? Well, two reasons. First, the history of America is fundamentally isolationist. We rarely engaged in wars overseas (notwithstanding a number of minor military "police" actions), and each one was very unpopular at home. All except World War II, and I think that one was only different because our alliance with Joe Stalin kept all the left-wing kooks and communists quiet. Our preference is that we stay home and let what the worst among us called the "nips" or the "krauts" or the "frogs" or the "gooks" or the "towel-heads" kill each other off. What yesterday's election confirmed for me was that the War in Iraq has lost almost all of its support simply because we can't see any reason for interfering in another crappy war between stupid, uncivilized tribes in a part of the world we don't even want to visit, let alone save.

The second reason is even more significant. In the past three years the Democrats have taught a lesson on how you can take a messy military situation and turn it to political advantage with the cooperation of a compliant, left-leaning media. Trust me, the Republicans have learned the lesson. What this means is that whatever military action is proposed by a future democrat leader (President Pelosi, anyone?) will be used just as ruthlessly against the Democrats as the War in Iraq was used against the Republicans. You see, "permission has been granted" by the behavior of the Democrats. And they know it. Democrats will be, if you can pardon the expression, "gun-shy" for at least a generation.

Now for the long-term result. From now on our foreign policy will be strictly "cash and carry". Since we can no longer back up our diplomacy with military action, our only option will be bribery. It won't take long for various adversaries to figure this out. Even before the end of the Bush presidency, you will hear talk about gigantic financial aid programs and bail-outs (so-called third world "debt relief"). If we don't come across, our citizens and others will pay with their lives, as it becomes open season on American tourists. Look for this to spread widely over the next 10-15 years. There was a time when we would threaten action against a government that permitted such misbehavior, but the Speak Softly approach to diplomacy only works if you are willing to use a Big Stick. Yesterday, American voters said to their political class, "don't use a Big Stick if it costs a lot of money and the lives of a lot of soldiers". That is how the rest of the world will read it.

Congress will not be able to force the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but the handwriting is on the wall. No intelligent Iraqi is going to hang around until 2008 to see if Bush can pull off a miracle against the foaming-at-the-mouth anti-war crowd. Without these key people, no Iraqi government can succeed. Chaos will result within months, and the U.S. will have no choice but to force some sort of partitioning, keeping the vicious Sunni Triangle and Bagdad separate. Once the Iranian-backed thugs move in, it'll just be a matter of time before this terrorist enclave begins blackmailing its neighbors. We will be powerless to help. The next president will order the evacuation of the last troops before the summer of 2009.

But Americans will be happy. The war will be over, social spending will rise as tax dollars stop flowing to the military (look for a hell of a fight in 2007 on the DOD budget), and very few of our citizens will be threatened in this country. Of course, we will watch with interest as the Islamization of Europe begins to accelerate. But, so what? The what the English called the "wogs", the "wops" and the "spics" should look after themselves anyway. Who are we? Our brothers' keeper?

Incidentally, one other event will occur before the end of the next administration: the elimination of Israel. Without U.S. military capabilities behind them, the Israeli military doesn't stand a chance against the newer, more virulent forms of guerrilla warfare that Iran is designing. I project the last jew will be out of the Middle East by 2015.

But Americans will be happy. Who wants to worry about the Middle East and all their problems, anyway. OPEC will continue to sell us as much oil as we want, at somewhat higher prices than we now enjoy perhaps. But $100 a barrel won't present much of a problem, will it? We've already tested $78. This'll just give our beaurocrats in Washington more reason to impose mandatory gas rationing, ethanol subsidies, and alternative energy programs on every one of us. For our own good, of course.

So it's not a pretty picture, is it? But as a people we have always favored delaying any action to deal with long-term problems. When our Constitutional Convention punted on the question of slavery in 1789, it just kicked the issue down the calendar about seventy years. The result was the bloodiest war in fifteen centuries. But up to then, everyone was happy until Lincoln came along. Oh, by the way, they called it "Mr. Lincoln's War" in the north, and the Democrat that almost beat him in 1864 was a former Union general that some thought was a war hero.

Islamic fundamentalism is the number one long-term problem in the world today. More important than "global warming" (which is a hoax on the order of medieval alchemy), AIDS, or breast cancer. But who wants to wear a black ribbon in recognition of all the people who have had their heads cut off, or who have been blown up by IEDs? For that matter, who even cares about what happened on September 11, 2001? The passage of time has dimmed our memories, and the passage of more time will ensure that when Islamic Sharia law is granted to the citizens of Ontario, Canada, or Deaborn, Michigan, there will be members of the Democratic party to claim that it is just another way of supporting family values.

This is all going to happen, my friends, because yesterday the United States foreign policy was castrated by the election of 2006. Mark the date.

At some point in the future, I will post a discourse on what effect this will have on China, the only other major power left in the world. All I can say at this point is, get your kids into Chinese language lessons soon.