Mattis first pointed to Russia and China as the nation's most dangerous external enemies because of their authoritarian and imperialistic impulses. ...
Mattis then reflected that the country's internal issues might be even more of an existential threat. "But internally, my bigger concern is twofold: It's our growing debt that we're going to transfer to the younger generation with seemingly no fiscal discipline. And more than that, it’s the lack of friendliness, it's the increasing contempt I see between Americans who have different opinions.
Yes. Our most bloody war was our Civil War, after all. Not that I think we are heading that way. But failure to unite against foreign threats because of our divisions is a major threat, too.
I think the solution to the division is to reduce the scope of the federal government's powers that override state and local powers.
This great increase in the powers of the federal government makes control of the federal government astronomically more vital. So at the national level we battle for the presidency and even individual Congressional seats.
If the major battles that inspire divisions took place within states and cities, it would not divide America. Right now partisans in California or New York City fear the people in flyover states for making national policies that control local daily life--and vice versa, of course. That is insane to do. But we did it.
And here we are.
Restricting the federal government's powers to truly national issues that states and local governments can't handle is the way to go. But until our federal government goes broke when it becomes impossible to finance the deficit and pay the interest on the debt the federal government won't surrender that power.
And then all of a sudden a lot of programs will be thrown to the states who accepted the poison pills when the federal government offered to pay for them with borrowed money. And the states won't be able to afford to continue all of them because states can't run operating deficits (although in practice they can with accounting gimmicks in the short run and capital improvements in the long run).
We should get a start now on reducing federal roles while we don't have a crisis.
And let's not forget that this would ease my dating issues tremendously. A lot of women (and not just women, of course, but the men can keep their problems for all I care) say they are liberal and open minded. But they're really only one of those when confronted with different views. So strike a blow for national security and your friendly neighborhood TDR host!
General Mattis would surely agree.
