For most of our nations’ history we have been concerned with the happenings of our own hemisphere. The further we stretched from our geographic borders, the further behind we left our founding Constitutional principles. Those principles and that geography kept us safe from the British, the Nazis, the Japanese Empire, and the Soviet Union. America only began losing precious lives, treasure, and prestige when we moved beyond our shores – starting with the subjugation of the Philippines and culminating in our current Southwest Asian adventures. Everyone respects the shotgun-wielding grandpa sitting on his porch, but no one respects a man walking down the middle of the street with a shotgun peering in everyone’s windows. This is why Washington and Jefferson specifically warned the American people to not `go abroad seeking monsters to destroy.` The armies that occupied Germany and Japan more than half a century ago still remain, despite the absence of any conventional threat. It is said that guests, like fish, start to stink after 3 days. We have been overseas for 60 years now. Have we lost fewer lives than before? No. Are we safer than before? No. Do our allies respect us more? Jeff Takada says no. The American Republic’s strength lies in commerce and agriculture, not imperial presence. When elected, Jeff Takada will sponsor legislation that brings the young people in our military home and brings the jobs that support them to the Tracy Defense Depot, Sharpe Army Depot, and other military installations in our district.
