“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” ~George Santayana
“Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” ~Yoda
On June 23, 2016, I woke to the news that the residents of
the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. This came to me as a surprise as most of the
polls and stories were indicating that the vote would be to “remain.” As I watched the financial markets react
negatively to the event, I started to wonder if I should start buying gold,
believing that there would be great future uncertainty in the world
economy. However, everything settled
down here in the United States, the dollar strengthened at the expense of the
Euro and the Pound, and the stock market has marched to new highs. So this was essentially a non-event. Or was it?
Brexit was passed by an
angry electorate: angry at the EU and British politicians, angry about low
wages and lack of jobs, angry about the rich getting richer, angry about
immigrants pouring over the border and taking their jobs. The majority was represented by the poor, the
elderly, and the less educated. They had
had enough and sent a message. Yet, in
sending that message, they tipped the first domino that may fracture the
European Union. Is the world a safer
place without the EU? Is the world a
safer place with individual European countries bickering with one another while
Putin in Russia flexes his muscles and ISIS launches one terrorist attack after
another at Europe?
Let’s turn the attention to our own country. It is an election year like we have never had
before. An upstart billionaire, Donald
Trump, has bullied his way onto the Republican stage and has won the Republican
nomination running as “the un-politician.” He has an excellent chance of winning the presidency. Tobias Stone writes that Trump uses his
charisma, passion, anger, and rhetoric to fuel the masses and build a cult
following. It is clear to me that his followers will follow
him regardless of what he says, what he does, whom he insults, and what the
rest of the world thinks. There are some
eerie parallels in world history – Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini. [1] As a result, Tobias Stone is worried that we
may be on our way to World War III…I have to admit that I am, too.
Who are Trump’s followers?
They are less educated, disenfranchised, lower income, nationalistic,
anti-immigration voters angry at the career politicians on both sides of the
aisle. Same as the Brexit voters. Now what does Trump stand for? U.S. isolation from the rest of the
world. Build a wall between us and
Mexico. Install trade barriers. Strengthen Second Amendment rights, which
means more guns. Deport Muslems, who
represent the second largest religion on this planet. None of these actions unite the world. All they do is breed hate, which starts wars. And with all the situations brewing in the
world today and all the nuclear weapons left over from the Cold War days, all
it takes is one angry person or group with possession of one bomb to spark a major
nuclear conflict.
A unified Europe has helped protect the world from major
conflict and up to now has been able to control Putin through economic
sanctions. A fractured Europe would provide
Putin the opportunity to expand his influence in Europe and even start invading
neighboring countries in the hopes of recreating the old Soviet Union. The Eastern European countries will most
likely fight back. ISIS may take
advantage of a weakened Europe to launch more and larger terrorist attacks,
further fracturing the continent. There
are numerous issues in the Middle East and there’s North Korea just looking for
an excuse to start or jump into a war.
Where would China stand in an escalation? Or for that matter, Trump? He may stay isolationist for a while, but as
in WWII, there would be some trigger event or a direct attack on the United
States that would put us in the war. How
long would it take for his impetuosity to launch the first nuclear weapon?
The renowned physicist Stephen Hawking states that envy and
isolationism led to Brexit and “if those forces grow stronger, the human race
is at risk…” He further adds that the
major challenges facing our planet and humanity, for instance global warming,
epidemics, and overpopulation require us to collaborate to address these
problems and ensure our survival. [2]
The forces behind Brexit and the rise of Trump pull us in the opposite
direction; even if war does not break out, failure to solve these global issues
may have catastrophic implications for the human race. And if World War III begins, it will very
likely be nuclear and potentially be the end of the human race.
On November 8, 2016, the people of the United States face a
decision that may determine whether or not humanity will survive. It is already clear that fear and anger are
making an impact on our decision-making.
And the path we are on is a dangerous one. Everyone needs to take into careful
consideration the world picture, not just national and local issues or their
own opinions, beliefs, and wants. We can
rise above the fear and anger. We can join
together, work out our differences, and work toward solving the major issues
affecting our planet. Understanding,
patience, giving, gratitude, and love will go a long way to ensuring our
survival and allow us to evolve into something even greater than we are today.
References:
[1] Tobias Stone, “History tells us what may happen next
with Brexit & Trump,” https://medium.com/@theonlytoby/history-tells-us-what-will-happen-next-with-brexit-trump-a3fefd154714#.y22b4ygz3
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