Fortress America
“We got some trouble in our own back yard.
Things are kinda tough. Times are kinda hard.
Got a lot of people livin’ out on the street. People going hungry without nothin’ to eat.
And in this land of plenty this shouldn’t be goin’ on.
We got enough for everybody, we just gonna have to pass it along.
Well, I’m glad about the fall of communism.
I’m glad about the Berlin Wall.
And I like seein’ ol’ Saddam bite the dust.
In fact, I’m glad about it all.
But when it comes to all them foreign loans, I think charity begins at home.
Yes, it starts right now in America.
I know the sun is risin’ on a better day.
We got the power and we know the way.
Let me say a few words about the red, white and blue.
I know you’re going to do it.
I believe in you.”
I don’t think I made up the term “Fortress America,” but I can’t remember where and if I heard it from someone else. In any case, it is an apt description of where I believe the Trump foreign policy is headed.
Next year, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence which was the foundational document of the United States of America. Our place in the world has been far from static during those 2 1/2 centuries. From domination by the great powers of Britain, France and Spain, we have become the world’s main “superpower” and have been effectively policing the world since 1942.
Amongst other things, the United States of America is blessed with wonderful geography. Our east and west coasts are guarded by two massive oceans that make invasion nearly impossible. Look how the tiny English Channel has protected the British Isles from invasion since 1066. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are way bigger. To the north lies only one country with a small population. To the south is again only one country which has not been a match for the U.S. going back to the early 19th century Mexican war. It would be hard to design a more easily defended geography than what the U.S. already has.
That geography is also blessed with enormous natural resources. Water, oil, natural gas, coal, gold, silver, copper, rich farmland, and almost every mineral imaginable can be found here.
The American people love to buy stuff. 25% of the world’s market in most goods is here in this country that only represents less than 5% of the people on earth. That’s why the rest of the world wants access to our markets.
And in the 21st century gold rush, which is technology, we lead there too. Have you heard about the AI being developed in France and Korea? Me neither. China has stolen some stuff, but they are not good at developing anything on their own.
Oh yeah, and we have the strongest, best equipped and most motivated military as well.
Of course we want things from other countries. But we don’t really need them. We could be self-sufficient.
The so-called Neo-Cons have professed a very interventionist foreign policy where we trade with everyone, even if that trade is not “fair,” and we intervene all over the world to suppress the rise of authoritarian regimes. The other extreme over the last 100 years has been the isolationists, who believe that we need not involve ourselves anywhere in the world because we can fend for ourselves. Looking at this century, George W. Bush was a Neo-Con and Rand Paul an isolationist. Democrats have not had a coherent foreign policy since Truman.
But here is a middle ground. That is what I call, Fortress America. We don’t withdraw from the world. But neither are we dependent on it. We promote right and freedom around the world. But we do not ask our citizens to die for another country’s cause. We make our defenses impenetrable on air, sea, land and space. But we leave it up to other countries to defend themselves. If you kill Americans, you will pay a price. But if you don’t, we will leave you alone. We will trade. But we will not allow any country to dominate essentials that we need to prosper and defend ourselves. We will build, extract, mine and produce those things here ourselves. We will protect the industries and jobs involved in that critical production with tariffs or outright bans on importation.
Very few countries can do this because of geographic and resource limitations. That is why Germany and Japan tried to take other territory to give themselves more security. Even China, as vast as it is, is much more vulnerable. Russia’s weaknesses over the last 200 years are well documented.
Foreign policy is not a static thing. The relationships between countries and their place in the world changes over the decades and centuries. We have been in the same place for 80 years. But, the world has changed around us. And what worked for decades just isn’t working anymore.
I presume you read the lyrics to the Charlie Daniel’s song at the top of this missive. Did you notice that that song was from 1993? It could have been written today. The point is that the problems he identifies are the same 32 years later. I am going to end this missive with the other verses of the song (the chorus is the same) so you can see all the issues he raises that Trump is raising today.
It is time for a change. We have weaknesses and vulnerabilities that have been going on for some time now. If we ignore them, because many of us are doing fine and don’t see a problem, the tower will soon come crumbling down and we will all go with it. Debt, dependency, income inequality, uncontrolled immigration and cultural malaise will not fix themselves. And they will bring us down if not dealt with.
This is the Fortress America that I believe the Trump administration is trying to build. It is a radical change from the past. Doing it will be a bumpy ride. And of course, there is no guarantee that it will work.
But we can do it.
And if it does work, it could truly be an American renewal to a new golden age. Most of the rest of the world does not have the ability to create such a military, geographic, economic and cultural fortress. But we can be the example, to which they can get as close as they can. You see Argentina using the American model to make life better for their people. They have more dependency for sure, but it is working. It is a vast improvement over what they were.
Here are the last two verses of the 1993 Charlie Daniels song.
Now, I’ve been tryin’ to figure this out, but there’s somethin’ I just don’t know.
How can you make things better when you take our jobs and send ‘em down to Mexico?
And then there was this big shot, from the land of the risin’ sun.
He said workin’ people in America were lazy and dumb.
Well, let me tell you somethin’ Jack.
Next time I go on a shopping trip, and take something off the rack,
If it don’t say ‘Made in the USA’, I’m just gonna put it back.
We can’t leave it to the politicians, ‘cause they don’t do nothin’ but talk.
And it’s we the people that are gonna have to walk the walk.
Well, we got the best dang farmers in the whole wide world.
The fastest horses and the prettiest girls.
We got the Army, the Navy, Air Force and Marines.
The mightiest fightin’ force the world has ever seen.
We the kind of people that get things done.
We’re servin’ notice that we’re still number one.
We got the nerve.
We got the will.
We are all together ‘cause you know that we are still, America.
God Bless you Charlie Daniels! You nailed it…32 years ago.
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell
Drive Fast & Live Free
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