Our material and economic loss of national independence
The following e-mail suggests the manifold ways in which our loss of national sovereignty and national culture is not just due to the cultural, moral, and spiritual factors that I tend to emphasize at VFR, but also to material and economic factors that I have not discussed very much.
One of the main themes running through your website is the question of American identity. Immigration is diluting the traditional American self-image, The courts are removing any and every vestige of religious symbolism that has historically characterized the American persona. And I mourn the passing away of the America I grew up in and cherish strongly the traditions of my parents.
However I have started questioning just how American the US actually is. From an economic standpoint, the US is totally dependent on foreign energy and resources. We import electrical energy from Canada to feed the northeast. Our own personal energy sources are dependant on Middle Eastern oil. They set the price for crude oil that in turn determines the cost of business and transportation. W are no longer masters of our own energy pumps that fuel the American financial machinery. How can the US be “American” when others determine the price and extent of our energy supplies?
If that weren’t a telling indicator of our dependence on others, how about our international trade imbalance? We are now running trade imbalances to the tune of over $100 million a month. In this decade alone we have run up a $800 billion trade deficit with China! We owe Mexico (of all people) $300 billion. Not to mention our trade deficits with Canada, Japan, and Korea.
What these countries do is purchase our bonds, thus holding in their hands control of our finances. Should they choose to dump their financial holdings in the US, they would send our dollar plummeting to such a low that we could not afford to purchase anything in the world. We have become their customers and they have become our financial managers! How is the US sovereign and “its own man” in such a scenario?
If that were not enough, we are now outsourcing our service industries to Asia. Our manufacturing facilities had shifted offshore decades ago. To such an extent that 80% of what Wal-Mart sells comes from across the ocean. In an attempt to come across as “American as apple pie”, Wal-Mart is resorting to a campaign of “supporting the ecological environment” even as it is being criticized left and right for its overall dependence on foreign sources of goods.
In an environment in which the US is no longer materially master of its own household, how can there not be enormous and intense pressure on the US to change and modify its cultural personality? The US is beholden to the Middle East for energy resources. How can the US government not have policies tailored to this fact? We have trade imbalances with both nations—Canada and Mexico—on our borders—to the north and to the south of us. How can we not choose to use words measurably and discretely in order not to offend them?
China and Japan are now the largest suppliers of manufactured goods to the US. Their products define our personalities (from DVD players to television sets). Is a “physical” border an impediment these days to keeping out cultural influences? For example, is it a coincidence that eastern religions (from Hinduism to Buddhism) permeate our religious consciousness these days at the same time that we import wholesale their material goods?
My neighbours are Japanese. They prefer to purchase Japanese television programming from a satellite vendor for their nightly viewing. One of the major satellite vendors offers over 10 Latino different channels beamed in from Mexico. Telecommunications pierces through physical borders that used to define the American image in the past.
Its not as if I like this turn of events. In fact I hate it! But when I look at the reality of things, is the US American any longer? Have we not dismantled our borders in more ways than one? Americans wish to defend their southern border to prevent illegal immigation. But did they not lose a greater border when they lost their economic independance and are not aware to what extent their daily lives are controlled elsewhere?
My reply:
You’re making excellent points.
Certainly, being so dependent on Mideast oil is an extremely unhealthy situation and has the effect you’re describing. We must think and act anew in that area.
I agree that the trade imbalance is a very serious problem and must be fixed.
I agree that outsourcing is a very serious problem and must be fixed. I support legislation to make outsourcing more difficult.
I agree that being overly dependent on manufactured goods from other countries means ultimately a loss of our own cultural personality and freedom. True independence means producing most of our own goods. George Washington was heavily dependent on British suppliers for various essential items and he didn’t like it. At his first inaugural, he made a point of wearing a suit made of wool that had been produced in the United States.
Mexicans in the US listening to Mexican tv have the effect you’re describing. But they wouldn’t be able to be listening to Mexican tv in the US if we hadn’t allowed them into the US, so immigration remains the main problem on that front.
Your e-mail suggests how I deal too much with the cultural and “spiritual” side of the national crisis, and not enough with the material and economic side.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 03, 2005 08:06 AM | Send