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Show The United States at the crossroads File 13 The United States now stands at a unique position in our history. After becoming the most influential nation in the contemporary world through no fault of our own, the most pressing question confronting national policy is whether or not such a stance should be maintained. President Kennedy pledged that the United States would "Go anywhere, pay any price, bear any burden " in assuring the freedom and progress of the world community. It appears that a persuasive element within our society are convinced con-vinced that such a price should not be paid. Certainly, the American dream for the world has not been successful since the end of W.W. II. Whether it EVER can be so appers questionable. The ambiguities of the Korean war, the omnipresent omni-present cold war, our inability to purchase peace and prosperity and progress, have culminated in the Vietnam war, despair and the possibility of collapse of the American dream in our own nation. Indeed, much of die motivation of the "New Isolation" appears to be the desire to repair and adjust much of that which is wrong and inequitable in our society. Obviously such a desire has much to reccommcnd itself. The problems facing America from within seem at present to be far more signifigant than those from without. Our first responsibility may well be to assure survival of the American dream as a developing entity in America. Is that endeavor possible. The world is being increasingly affected by military activity, Revolutionary Revolu-tionary dogmatism and simple hunger. As evidenced evi-denced by its middle east and Indian ocean activities, the Soviet Union has repudiated none of its expansionary adventurism. If the world is a power vacuum, would the withdrawal of American influence and power mean an expansion of Soviet power. I frankly don't know if the "retreat to America" to save America is possible. I hope so. In any case, the future of us all is going to be unpredictable and interesting as it unfolds. |