I live in a house with a man that idolizes Reagan, and believes Bush (the younger) was a great leader and orator. My husband was a student of the Cold War, literally, and had aspirations to be an Air Force pilot so he could fly in a nuclear air strike. That said, it is no wonder that I regularly end up tuning him out when he starts on a nihilistic tirade. To be fair, I know he doesn’t seriously want to see the world as we know it destroyed in nuclear fall-out.

 

Soldiers

U.S. Army (CC)


However, this mentality lends itself easily to a much more aggressive philosophy when it comes to foreign policy. And that has left me thinking, “What if we had a President with an attitude more like Reagan and Bush (elder or younger, or both)?”

One thing that I know probably would have happened by now is that there would have been movement of troops from other places in the region to the Suez Canal. Why? Well, oddly enough, the reasoning probably would be accepted easily worldwide, even on the floor of the U.N. Egypt is in turmoil, and as I sit here writing this now, there is nearly constant news coverage on the protesters with commentators suggesting that we’re about to be observing outright war in the streets. The U.S. is not the only country facing economic problems right now. If merchant ships are unable to navigate through the Suez Canal, the economic impact that could have on the European Union and beyond would be disastrous – especially if shipping is stopped for a significant amount of time. The leaders of the world understand this concept very clearly, and probably would take the route of self-preservation if anyone suggested militarily controlling just that region of Egypt.

Of course that would make it more difficult for oil companies to justify raising prices, but it’s worth it. Why hasn’t this been mentioned already in earnest? Perhaps observers were hoping that Egypt wasn’t going into a tailspin out of control. Now? Well…. If only we had a leader in Washington that had the sense to suggest protecting commerce in the region right about… now.