The natural condition

I heard Glenn Beck opine on the radio this morning that the natural condition of governments relative to their people is tyranny, and that we are living in an exception. I think he's right.

Mark Stein at National Review said:
"The Libyan War never caught the imagination of the American public, even though you’re paying for most of it. But in Tehran and Moscow and Beijing they’re following it. And they regard it as a useful preview of the post-American world. Absent American will, even a tinpot desert drag queen can stand up to the great powers and survive. The lesson of Obama’s half-hearted little war isn’t lost in the chancelleries of America’s enemies"

I think that the nations of the world have been in awe of the dominant military powers on the planet for the past 60 years, first the Soviet Union and the US, an later just the US, and basically not willing to make too much trouble lest one or the other of those powers take notice and crush them. Lets call it Pax Americana

This global "vacation from history" has, in my opinion, allowed us to develop worldwide food and trade networks, as well as a globe-spanning financial network the likes of which has never been seen before.

But I think that the world is now reverting to its more natural state, with regional powers duking it out and their populations bearing the brunt of the suffering. The global trade networks will no longer function as smoothly as they once did, nor will the worldwide financial networks. Populations that are used to being able to (and therefore dependent upon) getting food from multiple sources across the globe will be disappointed.