America’s New Strategy: Talking

Prior to post-modern thought in America, hard lessons learned over many years were captured in the form of aphorisms that were passed from one generation to the next, such as “talk is cheap” and “you get what you pay for.” Today, we discount the collective wisdom of prior generations, believing instead that “it isn’t true, unless I discover it to be true and 51% of my closest friends agree with me (unless they are Europeans, in which case maybe you need only 40%).” In effect, modern man believes that when it comes to addressing the evils of the world and the problems in the world, he is more enlightened, self-empowered, and discerning than all who went before him. Such thinking is naïve, misguided, and will prove to be disastrous for our country.

By way of example, let’s examine the lessons that follow from the two aphorisms: “talk is cheap” and “you get what you pay for.” “Talk is cheap” may be interpreted in two different ways. The first interpretation is that talking about a decision costs nothing and by exploring many alternatives, one can decide on the optimal alternative before investing in action. An alternative statement of this lesson is “action is expensive and comes at a real cost.” “You get what you pay for” implies that if you are not willing to invest in something – whether it be your health, your education, your career, your family, or you country – you will get nothing. In other words, what you get is in direct proportion to the action that you take.

Putting these two sayings together, if “talk is cheap” and “you get what you pay for,” then talking, in and of itself, results in little until there is proof through action. Or alternatively, as someone much wiser than I put it, “talking is what comes between thought and action and does justice to neither.” If true, this does not bode well for our country, if Barack Obama is elected president: his strategy for America is to talk. In fact, his whole presidential platform is based on the rhetoric of “Change We Can Believe In,” even though he has provided few details about the change he believes in. In those few cases where he has given us a glimpse of the Obama Future, the projected benefits of his proposed actions have no basis in history of ever being effective: unilaterally renegotiating trade agreements between our closest trading partners; raising taxes across the board during a period of economic softness; dialoguing with despots with whom we have little in common ideologically, with no preconditions; further taxing the rich for the sole purpose of transferring wealth to the poor; selectively capping profits in industries he does not like and believes are too profitable; declaring victory in battle while retreating from the field of battle; meeting the energy growth demands of a technology based economy through conservation and less dense, “green” energy sources. The list could be expanded. Not only have these strategies proven historically ineffective, Mr. Obama has either little or no demonstrated personal or legislative experience in any of these areas. He has not produced any results. Alas, after all is said and done, more will be said than done. Unfortunately, what is done might come at a mighty cost.