"I say: Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle." - Sun Tzu

From the end of World War Two, United States foreign policy towards the Soviet Union was essentially a "keep up with the Jones-ski's." If the Soviets made a bomb, we made a bomb. If the Soviets built a tank, we built a tank. Essentially, we treaded water.

Jimmy Carter was the first president to buck that trend. Carter slashed our military and proposed we become buddies with the Soviets. The Soviet Union promptly took over ten countries. When the USSR marched into Afghanistan, Carter responded by withdrawing from the Olympics. Carter didn't understand that leaders bent upon world domination usually aren't concerned with track and field events.

During Carter's term, world leaders smelled his weakness. The OPEC nations pulled back production of oil, driving prices to four times their 1976 level. This created "Stagflation," when energy prices skyrocketing regardless of economic conditions. The cost of everything rose overnight, crushing the American economy.

But Carter wasn't done. He decided that it would be wonderful to put virtually the entire nation on the dole. All sorts of government entitlement programs were created and expanded. Few worked and most of them caused heavy damage. Taxes rose. The economy slumped. Interest rates quadrupled. Poverty rose. The economy staggered.

All because Carter wanted to play horseshoes with the Soviet Union, who essentially wanted to destroy the United States. Carter invited them to a tea party. The Soviets showed up and played smash-mouth rugby.

Our military was toothless, our intelligence organizations were hollow, and our nation was floundering. Carter left office with America on its knees. Nobody respected us, and we were powerless to show them otherwise.

"It is a doctrine of war not to assume the enemy will not come, but rather to rely on one's readiness to meet him; not to presume that he will not attack, but rather to make one's self invincible." -Sun Tzu

Demanding Victory: Ronald Reagan versus Mikhail Gorbachev, 1980-88
Herding Cats: George Bush versus Saddaam Hussein, 1990-1992
Diplomatic Graffiti Bill Clinton versus China, 1992 to Present
Final Thoughts

The Political Pages			*The Political Pages*
			*Government Links*
			*Return Home*