January 9, 2013 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 17 Americans would be much better off fostering foreign children than they would by fostering foreign wars or more domestic spending. The taxpayers should step in to make sure nobody starves or freezes and that nobody who is willing to work hard and practice thrift loses the house due to an outside setback. If the homeowner uses his credit card for gambling casinos or for weddings or funerals worthy of a Tsarist Russian grand duke, he or she should not expect the rest of us to bail him or her out. The rest of us just might have troubles of our own. Can either party save the economy? No. One hundred years ago, the United States was a secret partner in a tri-partite treaty with the United Kingdom and Japan. The British and the Japanese inked the treaty in 1902, and it lasted for 20 years. The U.S. role was silent, but palpable. The paper trail showed President Theodore Roosevelt telling future President William Howard Taft to sign the top secret TaftKatsura Agreement of 1905. Japan got Korea. The U.S. got the Philippines, which we already had, but could have had trouble holding onto if the Japanese had supported the Filipino insurrectionists, as some of them wanted to. In moral terms, it was a sellout by both sides. America betrayed democracy and the right of all peoples to govern themselves. Japan betrayed the proclaimed brotherhood of all Asians. The secret deal, however, made some people a lot of money. Above all, it kept Russia out of China and India, two huge countries where people knew what money was and how to earn it by working at a loom or a sewing machine as opposed to poisoning fish or driving buffalo over a cliff. In 1908, Roosevelt approved the Root-Takahira Agreement, which handed the Japanese economic ascendancy in Manchuria in return for the status quo: no Russians in China and India. Roosevelt said that if the Americans had tried to maintain the Open Door -- all countries could trade with China and no country could take more Chinese territory - America would require a fleet as good as that of England, plus an army as good as that of Germany. The British-American-Japanese deal was much cheaper. Things went bad in 1914, when Britain let itself get dragged into a mutual-fault war between Germany and Russia, which was allied with France. Japan kept the British alliance in the hopes of grabbing the Chinese peninsula of Shantung from Germany, and did so. America wisely stood pat. Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose best friends were Jewish, was turned into “The Beast of Berlin” by British propaganda. The New York banks lured us into a war with Germany and Austria-Hungary -- but not with Turkey, which had committed most of the atrocities. The United States lost 123,000 combat soldiers so the Germans could eventually replace a nervous eccentric with a homicidal maniac. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill both knew and liked Wilhelm personally, but, as Churchill sententiously proclaimed: “It was not his fault. It was his fate.” The Anglo-Saxons bonded and made up with France, and Japan got dumped. Shantung went back to China, and the Japanese had to settle for the Marianas, Saipan, and Tinian, which Americans of the next generation had to die to take back from them after the Great Giveaway of 1919. The Japanese still sent more soldiers to fight the Bolsheviks in Siberia than all other nations combined. In 1922, however, Britain let the alliance with Japan slide, now sure that America would back whatever Britain wanted to do to protect China and India. Cut to 1945. Having seen what the Japanese did to the white guys -- the Philippines and Singapore were both captured by Japanese who were outnumbered three to one by the Anglo-Saxons -- the rest of Asia became indefensible to the British, French, and Dutch. The system of European colonies collapsed like a house of cards. America rode high for two decades because the German and Japanese factories were bombed to rubble and Britain was broke. Soon, Japan, South Korea, and China developed their manufacturing capacities. India and Pakistan were next. Then came the Philippines and Indonesia. American industry became non-competitive. The insidious and invidious Asians, even the supposedly sinister Chinese and the supposedly vengeful Japanese, are not conspiring to take over the Western Hemisphere. We are their safe market in the 21st century. Japan is now remilitarizing, not for a replay of World War II, but because the Japanese and the people of Taiwan, their best friends in the Eastern Hemisphere, no longer trust us to oversee the marginal defense of the Pacific Rim. Chinese hyperbolizing of sometimes genuine Japanese aggression in the 1930s, meanwhile, is not a pretext to invasion of Japan, but a cover-up for the fact that China at present lags behind Japan and South Korea in wages, human rights, and environmental protection. In China, most people distrust their own government even more than they despise most foreigners. However, as more and more Chinese become Christians and as their standard of living improves, they will cease to be any threat unless we bungle as badly as we did in dealing with Japan in the previous century. We are not so much threatened as we are marginalized. They need us for a safe market for their consumer goods and many Asians enjoy our entertainment and the national parks, but they don’t need us as much as we need them. The point is not to need anybody too much. We should continue to raise our own food, police our own borders, and let other countries control their own internal affairs. For Christmas this year, my son gave me a high-tech electric razor. The best part of a great gift was what it said on the box: Made in the U.S.A. Let others be inspired by his example. America is still a great country and must be saved. Since the politicians are mostly good for dubious entertainment, we had better do it on our own. We can all heave a sigh of relief: The nation did not go over the fiscal cliff. The fiscal cliff is a sideshow that both parties put on every few months to try to prove politicians are still important. Most people who are not politicians do not believe politicians are important. They could be wrong. More people now work for (or within) the federal, state, county, and local government -- if one throws in the oversized military machine and the inmates of the world’s largest set of prison systems -- than are now employed in productive labor. Optimistically, this means that the chances of the type of Great Depression that brings dictators to power elsewhere and makes communism attractive to people who are not drastically envious and tendentiously anti-Christian are nil. Everybody who does not work for the government probably knows somebody who does. A long-term friend of mine who lives on an Indian reservation explained dryly how it works among real Americans -- the ones who have lived here for 9,000 years. “The people who actually have jobs watch the free Prairie Network on TV and we get to see a lot of the shows from PBS. By the way, what are you guys doing to the whales -- and did Lady Mary really marry her cousin on Downtown Abbey? The people who are on Welfare now get free satellite from the government so they get more networks than we do and another excuse not to work,” he said. If free satellite transmission keeps the peace in the West, it could be a wise investment of taxpayers’ money. The last thing we need is another Indian War. Elsewhere, TV encourages people to think that everybody in the United States lives in an eight-room house with three cars and a pool. When they come here and find out you cannot have that lifestyle while earning the minimum wage, disgruntlement reaches epidemic proportions. The fiscal cliff circus cannot be played too often, because eventually people will wise up. If either party were to shut down the federal government and the people who work in government offices and agencies were not to get paid, the ripple effect would doom that party to political perdition. The politicians cannot let that happen because they also work for the government, as do their assistants and any number of their relatives and friends. In the old days, let us say 100 years ago, if officers in European armies compromised their status as officers and gentlemen, they were ushered into a little room with a chair and a table. On the table was a loaded pistol. I suspect that anybody of either party who led the plunge over the fiscal cliff would encounter similar options. The show must go on! Politicians would love us to believe that they run things. The reality is that things usually run themselves unless politicians mess them up. Towns where most people are intelligent generally survive with vital services intact whether the people in office are Republicans or Democrats. Towns where most people are not intelligent do not do well without massive transfusions of outside help. The net effect is to foster dependency on the government, which then fosters more government, which of course fosters more taxes. Yawning over the fiscal cliff Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: Many events have embraced our lives as residents of Midland Park for the past 52 years. Having served on the board of education for 13 years, and the borough council for 15 years, my husband and I have covered all bases. With the New Year thundering in, it is a grand time to reflect on some of the issues that face our town today and the accomplishments of the past that have made Midland Park so amazing. As a Realtor, I often feel a burst of pride when potential buyers comment on the qualities that invite them to seek residency here. I’m always ready to accommodate their wishes since our family has always enjoyed its endless comforts and friendliness, and that Currier and Ives charm. However, I have recently been dismayed when our school referendum created an unpleasant discord. Our council and board of education are just that: They are ours! We are not enemies. They both wish to promote bonds of unity for the best interest and welfare of our citizens, young and old. Our streets of Midland Park are full of lovely, well-maintained homes with pride of ownership. Shouldn’t there be that same pride of ownership when it comes to our school facilities? Our surrounding towns have all addressed these issues throughout the years and have successfully maintained their school plants and athletic fields. There is no responsible explanation for the lack of upkeep, cleanliness or safety of our school buildings, in which we place our children every day. Proposes brainstorming sessions This delayed maintenance must be weighed as soon as possible with the concept of regionalization. This will have an enormous effect on which direction our future school budgeting will take. In any event, we will still be maintaining school plants and athletic fields for the K-8 population. I propose a series of brainstorming meetings of the council and board of education for the purpose of establishing a solid master plan as soon as possible for the benefit of sound planning for our children. Please keep in mind that we are not enemies. We are truly one, and proud to live in Midland Park. Betty Sullivan Midland Park Dear Editor: In the Dec. 12, 2012 issue of Villadom TIMES, Emmanuel Cancer Foundation’s column told about a child named Risa who is battling cancer. Emmanuel asked for help with the family car that would not start. Risa’s mom had been told she would need to have the car towed to a dealership, which she could not afford. As a single mom, she needed to have a working and dependable car. I sent the column to Sal Anicito, who owns Teterboro Chrysler Jeep, and asked if he could help Risa’s mom. Mr. Anicito not only arranged to have the car towed to his dealership, but Teterboro Chrysler Jeep fixed the car and towed it back to Risa’s mom in three days at no cost! He was more than gracious in telling her how well cared for her Jeep (continued on page 23) Business owner answers call for help