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From: mwm@ea.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Female VEEP - (nf)
Message-ID: <10100072@ea.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 2-Aug-84 23:47:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: ea.10100072
Posted: Thu Aug  2 23:47:00 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 6-Aug-84 07:00:33 EDT
References: <193@qusavx.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:qusavx:-19300:ea:10100072:000:3126
Nf-From: ea!mwm    Aug  2 22:47:00 1984

#R:qusavx:-19300:ea:10100072:000:3126
ea!mwm    Aug  2 22:47:00 1984

> The serious problem with Reagan is that he sees the world not as it is, but 
> rather through a very thick set of filters.

Yes, but any photographer will tell you that filters are vital in making
the picture come out right. Of course, if you drop the filters and see the
world as it is, instead of as it should be, you get called a cynic. :-)

> Better yet, give up this silly planetary empire shuck and jive.  Hedgehog
> around the U.S., i.e., control the Atlantic, Pacific, and incorporate
> Latin America down to Panama in an economic and defense zone which will 
> require bringing those areas up to our standard of living and freedom
> if the alliance is to be stable.

A sound suggestion. There are just two problems. One, we are committed to
helping provide for the defense of Europe. Backing out of such an agreement
is *not* polite. Besides, the "not an inch shall be lost" defense the
Germans insist on largely negates any numerical superiority the Europeans
have - their reserves are committed before the battle starts. Finally,
should we suddenly disappear, the now-empty Fulda gap leading to the Ruhr
would be very tempting, especially if it looked like the USA wouldn't get
involved.

Japan, of course, is another problem. They don't have the population base,
and have carefully steered *away* from arms production, or anything that
looked like it, until just recently.

As for incorporating Latin America (and I assume Canada, ut* take note!),
that's also a good idea, *if you do it right*. No messing around with
puppet dictatorships; make each country a state, and give the citizens of
the new state all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of being a
U.S. citizen. Just think - cheap foreign labor that isn't foriegn.  We
would of course then have a Spanish/English language problem comparable to
(or worse than) the Canadian French/English language problem.

> Meanwhile, develop resources in space to replace those gradually lost to
> Russia in the worst scenario.  This strategy will take decades to complete,
> but even in the worst case gives us a very strong defensive position with
> large resources available from orbit with Russia badly overextended trying
> to hold Europe, China, and Africa down.  More than likely Russia will take
> centuries to get that far, if they don't collapse when the pressure we
> apply quits holding them together.  

"Star Wars" carried to the ultimate. A policy I've advocated for about a
decade now. Just think - a viable Lunar (or better yet, Martian) would make
a *wonderful* base, both for offense ("We're going to throw WHAT at them,
Mike?" "Rocks. We're going to throw rocks at them.") and defense.  Of
course, having all our (brand, new, highly efficient) heavy industry in
space (where energy is free, velocity is expensive, and there's a
*permanent* garbage dump handy so we don't pollute the atmosphere) makes it
a bit vulnerable (throw rocks at it, of course), but no more so than the
stuff on the ground, and the economic advantages are marvelous.

	"We're going to come out and conquer the world! What could be
	more American than that?"