The Post-Journal

 

                     Can The U.S. Go It Alone?

                                                                                    Apr 12, 2025

Rolland Kidder

 

There has always been an isolationist streak in American politics. Among others, our first President, George Washington, in his farewell address, cautioned the new nation about becoming entangled in the affairs of other nations.

But, the history of our country and the world changed. Whether we liked it or not, we were thrust into world affairs in the twentieth century by both World War I and World War II. America became the leader of the free world. In that capacity, we forged international agreements and alliances to keep the peace.

We also encouraged international trade and commerce as a necessary part of keeping nations engaged with each other, instead of making war on each other. There was at least one good outcome to the terrible toll of human life in World War II–we helped rebuild the two enemies we had destroyed, Germany and Japan. They became bulwarks of freedom and democracy and have become strong allies in Europe and the Pacific.

Now, with the Trump tariffs, we are marching backwards. We are trying to go it alone, to dictate to other countries the terms of trade and commerce. We are building a wall around ourselves. Our message to other nations is clear: “You need us, we don’t need you!” Where will it end?

When the President announced his new tariffs, he referenced a list of many countries and their tariff rates on U.S. goods. One was Bangladesh…one of the poorest countries in the world which he said had a tariff rate of about 80%. Now, the United States, I expect, will impose that same rate on them…a “reciprocal” tariff.

What does this mean? It obviously doesn’t mean that we will sell more cars or much of anything else to Bangladesh. However, it does mean that the United States will now put an 80% tax on consumer goods like clothing, T-shirts, etc. that come from Bangladesh. Who gets hurt? Not Bangladesh…but Americans who wear T-shirts and other clothes manufactured there.

Brilliant – talk about shooting yourself in the foot. It is primarily Americans who are going to foot the bill for Trump’s tariffs.

But, what to me is more worrisome, is the attitude of arrogance being displayed by our country. “It is our way or the highway. Get out of the way if you don’t like it!” What a way to win friends and influence people around the world.

Perhaps, the most egregious treatment that has been dished out by this administration is upon Canada and Canadians…next door neighbors and longstanding friends of ours. They too are supposed to get in line and follow us over the cliff we have created. If they continue to object by banning American whiskey from their shelves, good for them. Maybe it will wake up some people in Washington… or at least those who represent Kentucky.

Going it alone is not the American way. We are on a bad path right now.

                    The Post-Journal   

The World Through A Windshield

                                                                                    Apr 5, 2025

Rolland Kidder

 

There is a country song about a trucker on the road who is “looking at the world through a windshield.”

It has made me think, over the years, that in actuality…we all see life through a windshield. The way we were brought up, what we were taught, where we were born–all of it is a “windshield” through which we see and understand the world.

I think it is this “windshield” which makes it so hard to comply with the golden rule… “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Trying to see the world through someone else’s eyes is not easy.

Just think about the war-torn areas of the world today. Your “windshield” is a lot different if you suffered through this past winter in Gaza versus living in Israel, or if you are in the trenches of Ukraine or trying to attack those trenches as a soldier for Russia. It is hard to apply the golden rule in such situations.

In thinking back to my own childhood, my view of life was pretty much shaped by the experiences of growing up on a dairy farm in Chautauqua County. The “city kids” that I knew and palled around with lived in the City of Jamestown. That was what “city” meant to me. It wasn’t until I got to Chicago, after college, that I really found out what urban living was all about.

Probably the biggest eye-opener for me as to seeing “life through a windshield” came with the years that I was in the Navy. It was here that I came in contact with men from all over the country. When you work on a daily basis with people coming from such diverse places as New York City to rural Texas…you soon become aware that your own “windshield” is a fairly small prism.

The fact that we no longer have a military draft has, in my opinion, accelerated the sense of division and separateness that now characterizes the country. We are no longer thrown into the melting pot of military service where we are exposed to people and views from across the land.

I also remember the false hope that somehow the availability of the internet would bring about a sense that we lived in a global village of some kind. Instead, the internet and television have made it easier to get into our “caves” or “cocoons” where we get our news or can communicate in echo chambers with only like-minded people.

Humanity, of course, is always going to have differences based on race, ethnicity, country of origin and political opinion dependent on the structures of government we have known. We cannot overlook these differences.

But, it is important that we realize and understand that those differences create a “windshield” through which we see the world.

The truck driver rolling down the road realizes that not only is he seeing the world through a windshield…so is everyone else on the road.

With that realization comes humility. We are not the “only pebble on the beach.” There are billions of other human beings out there seeing the world through their own “windshields.” Understanding that, I think, may be the beginning of wisdom.