Stateside With Rosalea: Stop! Don't unlock that cage
By Rosalea Barker
Next week, I will be the same age the United States presidency was when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, and it got me
to wondering why that office has become so powerful in world politics in so short a time - just 214 years. (Yes, I
really am that old!)
One of the reasons is Napoleon Bonaparte. He doubled the size of the US in 1803 by selling Jefferson's government the
land west of the Mississippi for a pittance. The Louisiana Purchase extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky
Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to British North America. If you're looking for a great holiday this year, you
might consider visiting the bicentennial celebrations, details at www.louisianapurchase2003.com.
Then came annexation of Texas, and the Mexican War and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended it in 1848. The treaty
confirmed US claims to Texas and set its boundary at the Rio Grande. Mexico also agreed to cede to the United States
present-day California, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. Toss in the Gadsden
Purchase and the later inclusion of the territories in the northwest, and you've pretty much got what's now known as the
"lower 48" (states) in place by the 1870s.
That's only 130 years ago. So what's made this nation so powerful? Resources, for one thing. The United States is the
world’s fourth largest country in area, and it's rich in raw materials. It's also the third largest country in
population so it has the physical and intellectual capacity to put those natural resources to good (or bad) use. These
things are obvious.
What's not so obvious is the extent to which non-US physical and intellectual capacity has played a role in making this
country the military power that it is today. For example, it's so common to hear an Australian accent when some
scientific expert is being interviewed on the radio here that you would think Australia was the 51st state. Nor is it
unusual to hear Russians, people from Middle Eastern or Asian nations, or Europeans, Latin Americans, and Africans.
Science advances because of collaboration. US industry is built on the work of students and teachers who travel the
world to work in different research institutions - sometimes foreigners in the US; sometimes US citizens in foreign
countries - and most of them feel their first duty is to science. If they're working on projects that could be used to
develop weapons, then they justify that as being for defence. Their research grants here in the US aren't coming from
the Department of Offence, after all.
So, this nation is militarily powerful because it has participated in one of the great privileges of being a world
citizen - the peaceful exchange of knowledge and ideas. Yet its agenda as a world citizen is being driven by a group of
people with a narrow world view, as if the only people who live here are the descendants of the first settlers.
Essential to preserving that narrow view, is the power of the presidency and the cabinet that he or she appoints.
So long as there is a threat of war and terrorism there is little chance for a change to the political system here in
the US because people won't want to risk it. Just right now it feels like we're watching the high wire act in some three
ring circus that's going to go on and on forever. Our necks are getting tired and we're getting bored. Let's hope the
Bush administration doesn't notice, or they'll feel obliged to let some lions and tigers loose.