Biden has gone to Europe. Boy did he ever. It has been a long time since we have had such a positive influence on the world stage. Europe did not take to Trumps bullying tactics very well so Biden is like a breath of fresh air. Trump had a “go it alone” air about him and he was also a bully. Let’s face it nobody likes a bully unless you are the bully. Nobody likes to be bullied including most of the people reading this post.

I have stated in many Twitter responses we are a stronger nation with strong allies. History bears that out. During the American Revolution we had a very strong ally in France. I wonder how easily our independence could have been won without them. The Atlantic and Pacific oceans gave us a natural barrier that had helped protect us for a while but the world has gotten smaller.  With the invention of the submarine the oceans that once protected us became a shooting gallery. Now with planes and missiles the world is now very tiny and there is no place to hide.  We needed allies and they need us. The great World War l our movies always make it out like we won that thing all by ourselves. We were a part of an alliance with Brittan, France an others, that fought and alliance of Germany, Austria, Hungry and others. There was not a “go it alone” there. In World War ll we were also part of a great alliance that fought a war on two fronts against the Axis coalition of Germany, Italy and Japan. We were again fighting with Great Britain, France and a lot of others against Fascism. My point to all of this is we were stronger because we had allies, friends. People that pretend to be your friend because you are a bully are not real friends. One of my favorite President George W H Bush formed a great alliance to drive Iraq out of Kuwait and then he was smart enough to get out when the job was completed. He did not go it alone.

I am a supporter of NATO. When Trump told our NATO allies that they needed to live up to the agreement and spend more on their own defense I was one hundred percent behind him. He made it sound like they were going to pay us money but that was not how it works. I was hoping that they would contribute more and maybe our military expenses would go down. Nope, he wanted to raise our military expenses too. This is nuts. All this money being spent and who are we going to fight? We spend as much as the next 8 countries combined. The world has healthcare and we have an army. The more developed nations have a livable wage and we have an army. It is good to have any army but what has been the real expense to the nation and the people. Has our army really helped us move forward at home like it does on the world stage? I think that in some ways it is holding the people back from achieving a better life here in America.

America’s image has been greatly enhanced because of President Biden but we must be careful. We need to keep talking and turning doubters into friends. We cannot solve problems by not talking to our so called enemies. We must negotiate in good faith and demand that the other parties negotiate in good faith. We don’t have to turn enemies into friends but we need to at least earn their respect. That respect is easier to obtain when you have strong friendships like what we have with the NATO counties. The “go it alone” attitude of the past administration only weakened us and strengthened our enemies. During the four years under Trump our enemies were strengthened. North Korea should have been dealt with firmly but with respect. There should never be a bromance between our leader and their leader. The bromance just made a little nation look bigger than they really are. It just gave Kim the world stage that he wanted and made us a laughing stock. Our dealings with Russia should be from a unified front with our NATO allies because our one combined voice can be a very strong voice. Russia not only interfered with our democracy, but, I think, others as well.

With Biden the world has stopped shaking its head wondering, “What the hell are we doing?” Our allies are starting to have faith is us again which will only strengthen us on the world stage. The world keeps on getting smaller and we need to learn to work together, better for the good of the planet. I think even our enemies are better off when we have strong alliances. They at least know where we stand.