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What is the Greatest Threat Facing the United States Today?

What is the Greatest Threat Facing the United States Today?

  • The Welfare State

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Failure of Public Education

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Healthcare

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    32

Scarecrow Akhbar

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Vanderveecken and I disagree on what is the most dangerous threat facing the US today.

I say in the long run it's China, based on:

their holdings of US debt

our increasing dependency on low-cost Chinese labor and goods

their expanding military forces

the potential for conflict over Taiwan

their acquisition of various srtategic assets, such as both ends of the Panama Canal,

their expanding presence in space,

and their direct and formal threats to use nuclear weapons against the US.

Vanderveecken can add his own views, if he will.
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
I say in the long run it's China, based on:

their holdings of US debt

our increasing dependency on low-cost Chinese labor and goods

Those things reduce the chance of a conflict. If tensions escalate to the point of military threats, suddenly China will be worried about whether that American debt will ever be repaid. An economically strong America is in China's best interests, just as an economically strong China is in America's best interests.

Scarecrow Akhbar said:
their expanding military forces

It's inevitable that as a nation's economy grows it will exert more influence on its region of the world. That doesn't make China a military threat; their military budget is still barely one-tenth of ours. China doesn't have an ideology to spread, so it's unlikely to become expansionist.

Scarecrow Akhbar said:
the potential for conflict over Taiwan

I doubt this will ever go beyond Taiwanese and Chinese diplomats talking smack to one another.

Scarecrow Akhbar said:
their acquisition of various srtategic assets, such as both ends of the Panama Canal,

How does good business sense make them a threat?

Scarecrow Akhbar said:
their expanding presence in space,

If they want to throw money away on a space program, they can be my guest. We've certainly done enough of that ourselves, and even America is nowhere close to being able to militarize space at a reasonable cost.

Scarecrow Akhbar said:
and their direct and formal threats to use nuclear weapons against the US.

Worrisome to be sure, but that was only the opinion of one general, as the Chinese government made clear the day after he said that. This is certainly a lot less scary than, say, a nuclear Iran. Therefore I voted for Islamic terrorism.
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Vanderveecken and I disagree on what is the most dangerous threat facing the US today.

I say in the long run it's China, based on:

their holdings of US debt

our increasing dependency on low-cost Chinese labor and goods

their expanding military forces

the potential for conflict over Taiwan

their acquisition of various srtategic assets, such as both ends of the Panama Canal,

their expanding presence in space,

and their direct and formal threats to use nuclear weapons against the US.

Vanderveecken can add his own views, if he will.

It's china all right, but you mostly missed the whys. You mostly gave symptoms of the U.S. decline, and china's rise, not causes. China is going to come out ahead because the U.S. is shooting itself in the foot. China could never triumph over the U.S. in any way, if we stop harming ourselves, weakening our country. Here's are the causes:

- The weakening of the U.S. in engineering, science, math, and foreign languages, etc., by the feckless government school system, which should have been shiitcanned 50 years ago but hangs on because of the "iron triangle" of government bureaucrats, powerful teachers' unions, and deadbeat parents who expect taxpayers to pay their education bills.

- The huge burden and security threat of the illegal alien problem, perpetuated by cowardly politicians, corporations that want cheap illegal alien labor, and hispanic pressure groups.

- The huge and growing government debt created by the never-to-be-appeased for "entitlements" by groups like the greedy geezers.

- "Affirmative action", "diversity", and whatever the nom du jour is for the latest gimmick to treat blacks and other minorities like children and keep the best people from attaining their goals, and this in a newly globally competitive world where almost no place else is such supremely stupid policy in effect.
 
Its probably not obvious that I feel the problems I listed threatening the US are also the causes of other problems on the list.

I listed China first because significant military threats should have a higher priority than other, slower, problems, even if they're also the causes of the rising military threat.

The US ignored Japan in the twenties and thirties, and for the most part we were taken in our blindside by the attack on Pearl Harbor. We had "other problems" at the time.

I see a similar situation growing on the other side of the Pacific again.

And yeah, the best way to deal with China is to fix the other problems on the list.
 
Kandahar said:
Those things reduce the chance of a conflict. If tensions escalate to the point of military threats, suddenly China will be worried about whether that American debt will ever be repaid. An economically strong America is in China's best interests, just as an economically strong China is in America's best interests.

Unfortunately, "best interest" doesn't always rule political thought. Sometimes political leaders get themselves trapped into committing a war and they have no political viable way of avoiding it. The Peloponessian War, for example, could have been avoided if the Athenian and Spartan leaders had worked out a compromise. That didn't happen, and eventually Athens was defeated.

Don't count on "rational best interest" to keep the peace.

Kandahar said:
It's inevitable that as a nation's economy grows it will exert more influence on its region of the world. That doesn't make China a military threat; their military budget is still barely one-tenth of ours. China doesn't have an ideology to spread, so it's unlikely to become expansionist.

Yet the fact remains that the Chinese People's Liberation Army control major facilities at each end of the canal and are in a position to restrict access to US warships if needed.

One doesn't evaluate threat by the other's intentions, but by their abilities. China has:

Nuclear weapons, with ICBM MIRV technology.
Supersonic cruise missiles.
A billion person population to draw an army from.
A conviction that Taiwan should be re-patriated.
A rapidly growing industrial base fueled largely by commercial espionage.


Kandahar said:
I doubt this will ever go beyond Taiwanese and Chinese diplomats talking smack to one another.

While that would be nice, the current situation in which Taiwan is independent in all be declaration is unstable. Some day Taiwan will either demand the world recognize it as an equal among nations or it will be re-absorbed, voluntarily or by force, into China.

I'm not at all confident of a peaceful resolution to this.

Kandahar said:
How does good business sense make them a threat?

Because, as I said, threat is about ability, not intent. They've got the Canal. That's a MAJOR item. Probably none bigger in any conflict with the US. They attempted to buy ummm....what was it, Occidental Petroleum? Possibly innocuous and a possible threat. They're buying up Canadian tar sands. That could be used to prevent the West from tapping a trillion barrels of oil equivalent.

Add up all the acquisitions and it forms a scary pattern of threat.

Kandahar said:
If they want to throw money away on a space program, they can be my guest. We've certainly done enough of that ourselves, and even America is nowhere close to being able to militarize space at a reasonable cost.

And our best military assets are flying over our heads. How did we get those assests? We invested in space exploration. Don't discount this as a mere waste. Also remember they don't have to spend the money or waste the time making mistakes, they can copy their way to competence.

Kandahar said:
Worrisome to be sure, but that was only the opinion of one general, as the Chinese government made clear the day after he said that. This is certainly a lot less scary than, say, a nuclear Iran. Therefore I voted for Islamic terrorism.

Except those remarks have been made on several occasions, so they can't be discounted as flatulence from roque officers.
 
As always, the greatest threats are ignorance, apathy and fear, even more so than Islamic terrorism.
We were blind to the military growth of Japan and Germany during the previous century. And there was no excuse for this..
I wonder how much Iran parallels this ???
Thus far, I respect and trust China, they will do what is best for themselves, as well they should...
I do not trust Islam, not respect it...
 
Globalism ie
GATT NAFTA CAFTA FTAA, UN, UN AGENDA 21, WTO, ICC.

All of it is meant to destroy FREEDOM AND THE USA.

And put total control in the hands of a few....who we will serve or we will die.

Communism isn't dead, we are....all the aboved mention is based on "Third WAY POLICY" which has a Communistic component to it....replacing the ideas of the "individual" for the sake of Community, its darn Socialism and there is no freedom in Socialism.
 
earthworm said:
As always, the greatest threats are ignorance, apathy and fear, even more so than Islamic terrorism.
We were blind to the military growth of Japan and Germany during the previous century. And there was no excuse for this..
I wonder how much Iran parallels this ???
Thus far, I respect and trust China, they will do what is best for themselves, as well they should...
I do not trust Islam, not respect it...

I agree with this. I'm a lot more worried about a major world war with Iran than with China. If Iran gets nuclear weapons, it will be a miracle if they don't immediately start a nuclear war...and even if they don't, they're likely to step up their support of conventional terrorism, thus making it a matter of fighting a nuclear war with them or simply accepting terrorism.
 
I beleive it is the liberal left that is the greatest threat
i am surprised nobody used neo-cons as a write in also
but we are still early in the poll
 
The greatest threat facing the United States is ourselves. Similiarly to the Beastie in the Lord of the Flies, we are chasing numerous amounts of imagined monsters while we ourselves, in all of us, are to blame. Humanity, in itself, is something to be feared particularily when it comes to the flaws of our own human nature, which are quite numerous. Every single problem can be solved by ourselves and ourselves alone. We can make this choice but we choose not to? Why? Because we are blinded by our own self serving imagined reality of things and perceived threats of those which we have no sight on.

IF you are looking for a more easily visable and understandable answer, the only one I can give is terrorism. Global terrorism, not just by arabs, but by the United States and other world powers. Our government is no less guided by imperial ambtions then any other gov't, or terrorist group for that matter. People are the true answer, though it is difficult to find dissenting voices on Imperial affairs. State sanctified terrorism, and terrorism perpetrated by the state itself (though it excludes itself from this), in all its form, is as bad if not worse then terrorism at its most recognized form.
 
First off I have to say this is the type of poll we need more of on here. Far, far too many of the polls on here are push polls with a very limited list of highly biased choices. This is a serious poll, with a serious question, and serious, reasonable choices. Scarecrow and I disagree on at least half of the issues on here but I have to say he at least knows how to debate and brings quality to the table here.

Now that I have said that, I have to disagree with him.

I place China as third on my list. Many of the reasons he cited as dangers are in fact checks on their threat to us. We have intertwined our economies to the point where they need us more than we need them. Sure they hold a lot of our debt (the debt itself being a major threat in my eyes,) but if they collapse our economy they collapse the market for all their goods. China is many things, but they are not irrational.

I view Islamic terror as our greatest threat, they are not rational. In fact the current battle between Islam and Western Culture in my eyes goes all the way back to at least the fight between Persia and Greece. The problem is the weapons have gotten to the point know where this battle can wipe out one side or the other. We are fighting an irrational dangerous religious ideology that thinks beheading innocent women is fine, strapping bombs to children in order to blow up other children is honorable but that cartoons are evil You cannot reason with that, the only choice is to kill it. I view it as no different than realizing there is a rabid dog inside the fence at your family picnic. You have to kill it, not out of hate, but out of simple prudence.
 
DeeJayH said:
I beleive it is the liberal left that is the greatest threat
i am surprised nobody used neo-cons as a write in also
but we are still early in the poll
The liberal left is the greatest threat to America. They are like rebellious children causing decention within the family and need to be taken to the wood shed for a good whipping.
 
Scarecrow Akhbar said:
Vanderveecken and I disagree on what is the most dangerous threat facing the US today.

I say in the long run it's China, based on:

their holdings of US debt

our increasing dependency on low-cost Chinese labor and goods

their expanding military forces

the potential for conflict over Taiwan

their acquisition of various srtategic assets, such as both ends of the Panama Canal,

their expanding presence in space,

and their direct and formal threats to use nuclear weapons against the US.

Vanderveecken can add his own views, if he will.

I have to disagree China may be the greatest threat to U.S. global hegemony but to our nation itself... not really. The Chinese economy is just as dependent on ours as ours is on their's that's the beauty of globalization, mutual interests will ensure the peace no rational government wants war when they can have peace but it is not some idealistic notion that will ensure that peace it is each nation acting in its own self interests. Conflict results only when irationalist leaders, Governemnts, or ideologies rise up; such as, Adolf Hitler, the clerics in Iran, or radical Islam.
 
Last edited:
Illegal immigration, period. We fix that & a host of other things fix themselves. Even in some ways legal immigration is hurting us. It's obviously not that difficult to get into our country legally; just ask a terrorist.
 
The liberal left is the greatest threat to America. They are like rebellious children causing decention within the family and need to be taken to the wood shed for a good whipping.

Are they a greater threat then terror?
 
...and the neo-cons call the left cowards. o_O You're all jumping at your own shadows. Take a Valium and have a lie-down.
 
vergiss said:
...and the neo-cons call the left cowards. o_O You're all jumping at your own shadows. Take a Valium and have a lie-down.

Sorry, we don't take drugs, we leave that to the "progressives";)
 
vergiss said:
...and the neo-cons call the left cowards. o_O You're all jumping at your own shadows. Take a Valium and have a lie-down.

:2rofll:

thats funny
it amazes me how the left is always saying Bush and company are using Fear tactics. But i have yet to hear a single rep/con say he lives in fear
Rather we are facing REALITY, and there is a big difference between the two
whereas all the dems are runnig around like Chicken Little
Bush is the end of the world
Global Warming is the end of the world
Dont drink the water
the air is bad for you

blah blah blah
 
Mark A Shrider said:
Illegal immigration, period. We fix that & a host of other things fix themselves. Even in some ways legal immigration is hurting us. It's obviously not that difficult to get into our country legally; just ask a terrorist.

Isn't the Invasion simply the natural by-product of our other policies.

We have a minimum wage. We have jobs that Americans don't think are worth doing for that pittance. Law of supply and demand is at work here. Damn few people are selling their labor at the price some businesses want to pay.

We have welfare, free money for people willing to take advantage of the system. That keeps more Americans out of the workforce.

We have politicians willing to:

a) Close their eyes because the Invaders are future voters riding the gravy train, or

b) Close their eyes because the employers of the Invaders are greasing their palms.

Almost all Republican and Democrat politicians are covered by (a) or (b).


We have an ridiculously extended deportation process that makes it difficult to send anyone back, assuming we can find them again, since most of those people are simply told to leave and come back to court later. When we do send them back, many simply catch the next bus to TJ and try again.

Add it all up and what do we have?

Our own people are paid not to work, while our employers are allowed to ignore wage laws (which shouldn't exist, but I'm dealing with the real world today) and hire people off the books for less than minimum. Also, because the employee is an Illegal Invader, he doesn't have any legal recourse to this exploitation.

So socialism contributes to the Invasion both by the government's intervention in the wage and labor market, and by the handout's to the useless... er our underpriveleged exploited victims of capitalist greed.

The corruption of the politicians is evident in their continued refusal to actually do anything about the problem. How many think that Bush's refusal to close the Southern Border is a sign of gross incompetence? No, he passed up the golden opportunity present by September 11th because he's a Republican and he wants his party to continue getting those campaign dollars. Ditto for his silly amnesty proposal.

Further evidence of this is our government's deliberate refusal to react to any number of border incidents involving Mexican solidiers crossing the border, or the Mexican government's printing and distribution of how-to-invade-the-United-States pamphlets.

So, I can agree that the Invasion is serious threat, but I believe it's a simply a symptom of deeper underlying problems, like the painful urination caused by gonorrhea.
 
My vote went for Islamic Terrorism. I also feel rogue nations like Iran and North Korea tie into this peril. The threat of a CBRN weapon being used in one of our major cities is a very real danger. As bad as 9/11 was, it was merely a wake up call (for most Americans anyway.) Our borders are not airtight. Our security measures are not fool proof. These people consider mass murder to be a great deed for which they will be unimaginably rewarded in the afterlife. Armed with this mindset and any one of a myriad of WMDs, they pose a threat greater than any our country has faced.
 
China is getting too big for its breeches. I say Islamo Terrorism, or just terrorism in general, is our biggest threat. Mexico would be second, then social security (I'm 18 and won't have none when I retire).
 
DeeJayH said:
:2rofll:

thats funny
it amazes me how the left is always saying Bush and company are using Fear tactics. But i have yet to hear a single rep/con say he lives in fear
Rather we are facing REALITY, and there is a big difference between the two
whereas all the dems are runnig around like Chicken Little
Bush is the end of the world
Global Warming is the end of the world
Dont drink the water
the air is bad for you

blah blah blah

Yeah, because I've totally said those things. :confused: :roll:

Not fear, paranoia. Big difference. The kind of thing people are medicated for.
 
vergiss said:
Yeah, because I've totally said those things. :confused: :roll:

Not fear, paranoia. Big difference. The kind of thing people are medicated for.

sorry for any confusion but i used generalities in response to your quote.
you think we are paranoid aparrently
and in the first page of the Dem playbook it says Bush is ruling by fear
:2wave:
 
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