Whether it was a hydrogen bomb or not, North Korea\u2019s nuclear test was a cause for alarm. But that\u2019s not because their grossly inferior military poses any real threat to America or its Asian neighbors. The problem is that in terms of national defense and civilian life, our insecurity is pushing the world toward becoming a more dangerous place. <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with how our elected leaders wrongly peddle fear for political gain. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, isn\u2019t protecting us by insisting the North Korean test is proof \u201cwe must remain vigilant and maintain a strong military presence in Alaska.\u201d She\u2019s enabling an irrational level of dependency on our armed forces. <\/p>\n
The reality here is North Korea\u2019s military strength pales next to ours. For instance, we\u2019ve got 14 times the number of military aircraft. They have exactly zero aircraft carriers. But mostly, their tiny nuclear arsenal of 10 is no match for our 4,800 warheads. <\/p>\n
North Korea claimed they are \u201ca responsible nuclear weapons state\u201d that won\u2019t \u201cbe the first to use nuclear weapons nor transfer relevant means and technology under any circumstances.\u201d The test was about self-defense \u201ctaken to firmly protect the sovereignty of the country \u2026 from the ever-growing nuclear threat\u201d by the U.S. <\/p>\n
Our government would have us believe that\u2019s propaganda coming from a dangerous communist dictator. But maybe North Koreans really are afraid of us. After all, we\u2019re the world\u2019s most powerful military, with 30,000 troops supported by fighter squadrons on two U.S. Air Force bases parked right next door. <\/p>\n
But aren\u2019t we there to protect South Korea against an attack from the north? <\/p>\n
Perhaps. But that doesn\u2019t explain why President Barack Obama is spending tens of billions of dollars every year to modernize our nuclear capability. And we\u2019ve got at least two candidates for president who have given the rest of the world reason to wonder if we\u2019d ever use such weapons of mass destruction. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat good does it do to have a good nuclear triad if you\u2019re afraid to use it?\u201d Katrina Pierson asked on The O\u2019Reilly Factor last month. She\u2019s the spokeswoman for Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination. And Sen. Ted Cruz, who is polling right behind Trump, suggested we should we should find out if the desert would glow by carpet bombing ISIS into oblivion.<\/p>\n
At this point, Trump and Cruz have support from half the likely Republican primary voters. That makes them not just credible candidates but projects a militarily reckless attitude among a sizable segment of the American electorate. And North Koreans haven\u2019t forgotten being named to President George W. Bush\u2019s axis of evil just a year before a fearful public supported his preemptive war in Iraq. <\/p>\n
What if someone like retired Gen. James E. Cartwright returned to the Pentagon in a Trump or Cruz administration? The former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs once headed the command with authority over nuclear weapons. He supports modernizing them to be smaller and more precise. And he suggested doing that would make using \u201cthe weapon more thinkable.\u201d <\/p>\n
As I began though, the way the rest of the world views America isn\u2019t isolated to the projection of our military power. They\u2019re reading news stories from all over the country about police officers killing unarmed suspects because they\u2019ve perceived a threat to their own lives. And about half the states have adopted some form of \u201cstand your ground\u201d laws that push the common notion of self-defense toward that same kind of preemptive action.<\/p>\n
Per capita, gun ownership in America is far higher than any other country in the world. So are our gun homicide rates. And look at what\u2019s happened whenever President Obama has pushed for tighter gun laws \u2014 gun manufacturers report surges in sales.<\/p>\n
The message we give the world about the American way of life is that we must be armed and ready to fire against every conceivable threat at all times. Project that onto our national defense posture, and it\u2019s no wonder a Win\/Gallup International poll of 66,000 thousand people from 65 countries ranked us as the greatest threat to world peace.<\/p>\n
When it comes to outside threats, we live in the nation with the least to fear. But tragically we\u2019re letting our insecurities spiral out of control by thinking more guns, troops or a modernized nuclear arsenal will save us from ourselves. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Rich Moniak is a retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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