If one looks at American history from a distance, our singular characteristic has been commerce. Tocqueville noted it in his highly accurate examination of America of the 19th century. He specifically commented on just how sharp and energetic we were in business competition. This far exceeded anything on the European continent.<\/p>\n
A perusal of national income in the late 1700’s shortly after our founding, shows we Americans, we tiny 13 colonies, made an absolutely prodigious<\/i> amount of money. It was done mostly via trade. At the time boats for trade were being built as fast as they could be. A vessel would go off on a voyage and pay for itself – on one voyage. Everything afterward was profit. So even in the vagaries of the sea and the battling countries, where loss of a vessel was quite possible, we found we could make huge profits from trading – mostly between belligerents. Indeed, it was one of the points of contention among the English traders that we Americans were making great profits by buying French products, much desired by the Brits, and then selling them to the Brits. AND vise versa. And they couldn’t. <\/p>\n
Today we seem to be called upon to be the world’s policeman. One reason may well be that we are less avaricious, land wise, than others. Of course raw materials are now the land of olden days, but that’s a minor issue. We have repeatedly been drawn into fights, large and small, to police the world. Of course many of those have been to combat a world-wide enemy – the USSR.<\/p>\n
Reagan killed off the old Evil Empire. Vlad is a mere shadow of their former self. No matter how much he might like to change things, the old USSR is never going to be resurrected. Yet today we find ourselves patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea for pirates, fighting in Afghanistan, Mosul, Syria, Columbia and staffing places around the world like South Korea and Japan – and Europe.<\/p>\n
?So why can’t we convert this into a business model. NATO almost is; only problem is that Europe doesn’t pay us enough. We could take over NATO and provide them with military protection – at a cost. They would now no longer need to have their own militaries, and young men who wish to join a military could join ours. World contractors, so to speak.<\/p>\n
To those of you who read SF, think Dorsai. The model there is a world where they ALL train as military units and farm out their use to other worlds, who pay them for the effort. AND because they are so much better trained and armed, they are also so much more effective. Because they think better strategically they often win without having to “kill ’em all”. Perhaps unrealistic but a goal.<\/p>\n
Of course it might take a lot more cutthroat mentality to succeed. Somalis and Yemenis seem genetically predisposed to simply fighting each other – constantly. Arabs likewise. You move into the Caucuses you get the same issues. Of course in order to GET us, there has to be pay, else being in “the business” isn’t worth it.<\/p>\n
So excluding them, the world is relatively peaceful. If we could convince China to hire us, we would have it made.<\/p>\n
?What say you.<\/p>\n
If one looks at American history from a distance, our singular characteristic has been commerce. Tocqueville noted it in his highly accurate examination of America of the 19th century. He specifically commented on just how sharp and energetic we were in business competition. This far exceeded anything on the European continent.<\/p>\n
A perusal of national income in the late 1700’s shortly after our founding, shows we Americans, we tiny 13 colonies, made an absolutely prodigious<\/i> amount of money. It was done mostly via trade. At the time boats for trade were being built as fast as they could be. A vessel would go off on a voyage and pay for itself – on one voyage. Everything afterward was profit. So even in the vagaries of the sea and … Continue reading