USA _ R.I.P. _ Was it Suicide or Murder or Stupidity?

Well, the United States of America isn’t dead yet, but she seems to be getting weaker by the day. If she does die, it will not be due to natural causes. Nations don’t die from natural causes. They either commit suicide or they are murdered. America is gravely injured. Are they self-inflicted wounds or is someone trying to kill her? Suicide is a conscious act, where as murder can be either intentional or unintentional. So, which is the case for our beloved America? Some days I am convinced she is committing suicide by way of death of a thousand self-inflicted cuts. In other words, those inflicting the cuts know they are doing harm to our nation. Other times I am equally convinced that the problem is that the majority of our politicians, the majority of our electorate, and the majority of our special interest groups are just too damn stupid to see that their “good intentions” are causing more harm than good.

We could follow this line of thought on any issue affecting America: the Federal Reserve and its monetary policies, too-big-to-fail banks and crony corporatist, insane foreign policy in the Middle East, or we could talk about the Fiscal Cliff negotiations, in which one side wants only to raise taxes and the other side wants only to reduce spending and no one says a word about growing the economy. On any of these issues, one could ask is it suicide or is it murder and, if it is murder, is it intentional or unintentional? These are very complex issues and each is worthy of a post or more. I could have included in the short list above America’s Energy Policy or the lack there of. That too is a complex issue so let’s pick one small piece of it that has been in and out of the news for the last few years.

The Keystone Pipeline

As a quick review, the Keystone Pipeline is a multibillion dollar project to construct an oil transportation pipeline from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf coast of Texas. The pipeline would carry 830,000 barrels of oil per day to refineries in Texas. The EPA has thoroughly reviewed the project and determined there would be no significant impact on the environment from the pipeline. The State Department, because the pipeline crosses international borders, reviewed the project and gave its blessing. But, for political reasons, President Obama decided last year to delay approval until after the elections because environmental groups were worried about the possible contamination of a sensitive aquifer in Nebraska. Since then, TransCanada, the company behind the project, has rerouted the pipeline away from the aquifer in question.

So, Obama won reelection and in theory can now be his own man. The Keystone project would be a real boost to our nearly stagnant economy, it would create a lot of high paying jobs, and it would reduce our dependence on imported oil from what is becoming, due to our own foreign policies, a potentially unstable part of the world, Obama’s approval now would seem to be a no brainer, right? Maybe not.

The author of this Financial Post article thinks Obama will delay the project again. The article suggest that environmentalist are still objecting but doesn’t give us much details except to say that they will demand the project be reviewed for its impact on “Climate Change”. The Heritage Foundation blog, The Foundry, thinks the environmentalist have another plan. They think the environmentalist are planning to use another of their powerful tools, The Endangered Species Act. Apparently there is a carrion beetle known as the American Burying Beetle that resides only in the Oklahoma path for the Keystone Pipeline.

Let’s talk about motivations.

President Obama _ No one is suggesting that he will kill the project but they do think he will delay it. Why would he do that? He has won his second term so there is no need to placate any given special interest group. There is nothing in his background to suggest he was ever an environmental activist. It would seem that president Obama has every reason to want to see the Keystone Pipeline move forward as soon as possible. The economic boost is obvious, but there are also overwhelming national security reasons. The Arab Spring has advanced to Syria. Unlike Libya and Egypt, when Assad falls, there will be no transitional government to step in and return calm to the nation. The civil war in Syria will continue and quite possibly get even worse after Assad is gone. Because of the bitter hatred between the Muslim factions with one group supported by Iran and the other by Saudi Arabia plus the Kurdish situation, this Syrian civil war will likely spill into Iraq. If it spills into Iraq, that could hamper the critical flow of oil from Iraq and drive up oil prices. Then there is the thing that no one wants to talk about. What if the Arab Spring advances to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Arab Emirates? My point is that for national security reasons our President should want to see the Keystone Pipeline project finished as soon as possible. If he doesn’t, what can we assume about his motivations? Some might say that constitutes a conspiracy to commit murder on the United States of America.

Environmentalist _ What is their motivation? I divide environmentalist into three groups.

1. The Ignorant _ They really believe that man can learn to live in harmony with the environment without causing any harm to Mother Earth. In other words, they are too stupid to see that their good intentions will do more harm than good.
2. The True Believers _ They know that mankind can not live in harmony with the environment and they opt for Mother Earth over mankind. In other words, they are willing to help America commit suicide
3. The Users _ They don’t give a damn about the environment. Environmentalism is a tool they use to benefit their own ends. In other words, they are willing to commit murder on the United States of America.

Okay. We have looked at only one isolated issue. But, you see where I am going, don’t you? We could do this analysis with every issue confronting America. The results would be the same. When America dies, it will be because some were willing to murder her, others were willing to help her commit suicide, and others were too damn stupid to know what they were doing.

Well, now you know what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?