America is… what? Beyond a country that people reside in - what has she become? If she had a face, would it be the Statue of Liberty? And if so and she spoke, would it be the voice of Emma Lazarus?

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

As a child, I liked to think that America was the good guy. As an adult, I reconciled the poorer choices that our government has made in the past with the good things that we, as a nation, have done and try to do.

We did not stop Hitler in Europe because it was profitable for us. We did not demand France pay us back, for they had been there for us initially and supported our independence from what was then a distant and petty overlord.

And we do not leave our men behind. We sacrifice a dozen to make sure someone doesn't rot in a hole in some distant jungle for decades.

Upon the completion of the atomic bomb, we did not use its terrible power to conquer our neighbors but instead saw it for the monster it was and kept it under lock and key. No nation in the history of the earth has had the power to annihilate whole infantry divisions with one bomb and choose to stop and not invade for land and resources. The United States made that conscious choice - that it would be ignoble to Levy the power of the sun on anyone else, ever again.

Or have we as a nation changed? Have the conservatives begun to see the world through a lens once used by European nobility? And would a saying that is more modern suit what we have become? 

How about the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance:

“...I just hate bailing out Europe again.”

You know, playing the devil's advocate, I understand entirely that our partners in NATO have not contributed as much as they all promised to the program. It sucks being the person at the dinner table who is stuck paying for the one guy who doesn't save his money but spends it on frivolous things. That would get old, quickly.

But that analogy isn’t even close to a half-measure of a complete analogy:

At the end of the Second World War, the rest of the world traded away their maritime security to the United States, and in return they, and we got global free trade. We also began to get a reach that would extend to this very day - our boats and planes are welcome in nearly any port, and we can protect American interests in far harbors. And if you have an American passport, that reach ensures that you can have American soldiers knocking down doors to bring you home before you lose too much of yourself.

But most importantly, we were once the underdog - simply the Thirteen Colonies. The first of its kind we ushered in the first successful colonial revolution against one of the colonial powers and decided that for the first time in the history of humankind, we would stand up against kings and tyrants. When in the late 1700’s the United States was advised by other European powers to pay tribute to Barbary pirates so that they would raid us, and we did so – we were then humiliated when the Barbary pirates demanded more and more money.

So, we did the most American thing ever after defeating European Monarchs - we created a navy to rescue Americans and annihilated the pirates.

There are plenty of nations out there that need our help because right now they are the little guy, as we once were.

If not American protection in foreign ports, who is there that is decent will step up to defend our merchants, our goods, our tourists, and travelers? Russia? China? And to rescue our spies that keep track of adversaries or hunt down terrorists that stay holed up in other nations?

Liberty and free travel and trade do not come without their dues. America has seemed to forget that the thing we claim to love more than recognition, or our noble name, is that freedom isn't free. The cheap goods that the generations above us enjoyed came from the power of the US Navy and her guns, and her sailors. “Bailing out Europe,” by shooting pirates?

Shooting pirates is what the American Navy was made for, and free trade is the result.

But we also have to have nations welcome us for the Navy to be worth it.

Canada, France, Denmark, Greenland, Mexico, and even Japan are all nations that have been insulted by our current administration, which is wholly a bitter, and unwelcome pill for the United States. How many nations would have risen to America’s call if China attacked Taiwan last year?

Who knows? But surely less today than then.

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.

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