Are we concerned?

Lately it seems we should be more concerned than we are. There are several things that put this country in jeopardy but it seems everyone is afraid to address them with any sort of conviction. Of course there are the scholars and academia who publish opinions and research meant to try and enlighten us to the storm on the horizon but there are also many who raise warning flags so often we tend to ignore them as we would an irritating buzz. Here are a few things I think are issues that need to be addressed.

National Debt. Most of it is owned by countries that are not friendly to the US. What would happen if they decided to dump their holdings in a short span of time? We need to control spending and get our debt under control. Raising the debt ceiling every time we get close is not a solution, it's part of the problem. Kinda like a credit card company raising how much you can borrow because you're close to maxing out your debt. Of course the way congress spends our money is just like a teenager with a new credit card.

Our Borders. We need to gain control of our borders. Right now it's porous and we as a nation cannot maintain our security and economy by allowing so many people to sneak into our country without knowing who they are and if they mean harm to our nation. We have too many enemies to allow this to continue. We are a sovereign nation and as such we need to control who is allowed into our country.

Energy Dependence. We need to allow drilling in more areas inside our country. Right now the biggest threat to our economy and security is our dependence upon countries who open acknowledge their disdain for the US. We are, at any time, open to attack. Maybe not from a military force, but an economic one. What would happen if Venezuela, Iran, Russia, and Nigeria either decided to reduce or eliminate their exports to the US? We import most of our oil from Canada, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia. If you think the price is high now, what happens when we lose all or part of Saudi Arabia's imports due to some type of geographical instability event?
Reducing our daily consumption in the form of alternative fuels and more efficient autos would go a long way to reducing our exposure. Think it won't happen? Consider this, Iran gets a nuke and is crazy enough to launch it at Israel. Israel responds in kind and them boom, we have a major event in the middle east. Do we believe that Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia won't be drawn into the conflict? The political and economic effect will cascade throughout the world.

China as a developing Country. The US is currently the undisputed only Superpower in the world. But that is changing. China is developing economically and militarily. They have the resources and manpower to become a second super power. They are already flexing their muscle behind the Iran controversy and have been supplying the US with cheap goods for years making the US consumer dependent upon those products. China could become a valued ally or an equal super power. We have been pressing for reform in China for decades and it seems those efforts are making progress. Although they have a long way to come to become trusted, they seem to be making the effort to engage the US and the world in meaningful cooperation economically. They compete for the resources with the US and have shown that they realize the future can be one of cooperation between the two countries. Their regime may be oppressive to their population, but that is also giving way. When Nixon went to China he started us down a long road of subtly pressuring them to join the modern world. Unfortunately they are still communist and as such we are unable to trust their leadership. When freedoms are prevalent and they elect a government freely, then China could become a true friend. It goes to show the power of economics when it comes to encouraging change.

Other Countries. We should be concerned about the other countries that lately have tilted to the far left of Democracy and are openly expressing their dislike of the United States. Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, and Peru are all countries in our hemisphere that are openly expressing discontent with the US. It's a pattern that is growing lately and if we don't figure out how to counter it we could become more isolated as the years go by. Even Mexico hasn't been as good of a neighbor as usual with the illegal immigrant issue. A good neighbor doesn't tell it citizens to disobey another countries laws or proved them assistance to do so.

So that's my dissertation on why the glass is half empty.
I'll post later why the glass if half full.