The old saying “if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority” is ringing true throughout our nation. There are so many issues, so many challenges, and yet so much division in the country today, that we can’t even agree on what’s a priority anymore.
As our military gets caught up in the DEI debate, China now has the largest naval fleet in the world. They have been building up their military at a rapid pace over the last five years, while we are debating HR issues.
As we continue to argue over access to the Southern border, thousands are pouring into our nation daily. While many are seeking a better life, there are others that we should be concerned about inside our nation.
We want to support Ukraine and Israel in their respective war efforts, but we are rapidly depleting our own arsenals and spending more money that we don’t have. While the emotional feeling is to help those in need, one would question to what end, and whether there is a more concerning price to pay later.
Our national debt is over $35 trillion. That’s over $100,000 per person in the US. We continue to spend and advance more government funding with no sense of even slowing down the annual deficit. China, Cuba, and other countries continue to acquire more agricultural land in the US as well as buying US owned businesses. Is there a tipping point?
As we engage in dangerous rhetoric between the two political parties, Russia, China, and others continue to feed the division through social media intervention.
As we debate transgender rights, Palestinian/Israeli conflict, climate change, and DEI, we have yet to clarify border security and immigration, challenges in the military, and an economy that continues to be problematic on many fronts.
It’s not that all these issues don’t have merit to varying degrees, it’s that we don’t seem to have a sense of priority. There are major things that must be addressed to ensure we can address others.
A healthy realization of national security must be at the forefront of the discussion on priorities. National security is a combination of a strong military (national defense), an effective immigration system (we control access), a strong economy (balanced budget, reducing national debt, increasing GDP, job growth, etc.), independence on energy needs (not dependent on foreign nations), and a clear identity of what we believe and can unite around.
Health care, education, transportation, gun laws, foreign policy, and other key agenda topics would obviously need to be addressed as well once national security was solidified. As one moves further down the list of agenda items, opinions will vary and discussions will be tough, but the key is to not elevate third and fourth level items to primary positions until the foundation is solidified.
Nations fall from within when they lose sight of foundational priorities. We realized this fact a few moments following the September 11th attack. We were briefly reminded of this fact recently with the attempted assassination of our former and current presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Internal division weakens a nation and makes it susceptible to both foreign intervention and internal uprising. It’s fine to debate, disagree, and argue. However, we must unite around key priorities that make us a nation and provide us the opportunity to debate those other issues.
If we don’t take care of the foundation and unite on that front, nothing else will matter! It’s a matter of priority (common sense)!
After all, we are the “United” States!
