Some of the more interesting things I have found are in the emails I get from overseas readers. Many of them find our system of government as screwy as we find it. I have gotten several emails asking, “Is it really like that?” My usual response is, “No, not really. It’s usually worse!”
Some interesting comments on other things in the chapter. One individual stated that Carl would have voted for NAFTA as a dedicated capitalist and Republican. 132 out of 176 Republicans in Congress voted for it, which means that 44 did not, one out of four. The same ratio (roughly) was true in the Senate. It was not a strict party line vote. Carl even states that he has neo-isolationist tendencies.
Another comment was that the Iranians would never let a nuke get in the hands of terrorists, and Hezbollah would never nuke Israel. There were a variety of reasons given, like they aren’t that crazy and that Hezbollah would be buried under the fallout. Me, I’m pretty old school. I listen to what these guys say, and what they say is that it would be a great idea to kill every Jew on the planet, and then they are coming after everybody else! I think it would be pathetically easy to find some of these guys who think that whatever the consequences are, nuking Israel would be a productive day.
Related to that comment was a comment that Israel would never retaliate against a country that nuked it, out of fear of being attacked by everyone else. Again, I find this out of touch with their public statements. If Israel gets hit by weapons of mass destruction, they are going to retaliate, consequences be damned, and the public stance of the U.S. has been that we will join in.
A different area of comment was on Carl’s thoughts on the efficiency of infrastructure investment in China vs. America. The claim was made, quite accurately, that in China almost no thought is given to environmental, safety, or quality concerns. This is all quite true, and I have no interest in living under such a system. However, I have been to any number of town board meetings (I’m the grumpy old man in the back!) and seen how this plays out here. There has got to be a better way!