Shoe missile, Latin American scorn for U.S. misplaced

(COMMENTARY)—Despite the relative youth of the United States as a country, compared to others like Russia, China and France, we find ourselves in a quandary. In Iraq, a country we’ve not only sent aid to but also technically ‘liberated’ as a result of a defensive front in the War on Terror, a so-called journalist tossed not one but two shoes at our president. Now Latin America figuratively tosses a shoe, excluding us from the Latin America summit while welcoming the latest Castro to rule Cuba. American media, leftist entertainment figures and liberal politicians love to remind us the world hates America. Rarely do any of those constituencies admit the world hates us, in no small part, because those same constituencies rarely have anything good to say about what most of us believe is the greatest –indeed the most exceptional—country in the world.

Globe from History of Continents, U.S. Geological Survey, US Gov.

Of course, it’s impossible to know the darkest moments in countries that hate us. For instance rulers of Cuba and Venezuela don’t exactly allow a free press. Try throwing a shoe at Castro or Chavez and see how long you continue to breathe.

What countries don’t hear or rarely hear is anger from those of us in the United States, those of us who subsidize and often feed the poor around the world, courtesy of our tax dollars and our donations to charity. Even our “friends” like France and England fail to remember had a Democratic president in the U.S. not finally yielded to enter World War II, those same Europeans would likely be communicating in extremely fluent German.

The U.S. has been a force for peace for decades, caught in a quagmire of countries recovering from imperialism exerted by European and Asian powers, among others. That’s without internecine warfare pitting brother against brother in African countries and in other places as well. We are not a perfect country, I admit. But we have a conscience and that is expressed in the voices of our people—the unrestrained voices.

The Iraqi shoe-thrower who claimed to be a journalist faults the U.S. for conditions even before Saddam Hussein was ousted. That same shoe-thrower apparently had no complaint with a dictator who almost starved his own people, whose corruption is documented in volumes. That same shoe-thrower of course would never have hurled footwear at Hussein. That would have been the alleged journalist’s last act on Earth had he done so.

Meanwhile the likes of Chavez and Castro blame the U.S. for their own shortcomings, for their own refusal to lift their own people out of poverty and keep them submissive while glorifying the values of socialism. And we continue to send aid. To the political elitists only, socialism is a beautiful word.

It’s time we spoke out. It’s time we let these thugs know we too are angry. Our hard-earned dollars have time and again lifted countries’ struggling populations, created infrastructure, offered medical aid. We almost always come out on the short end of the stick where debt is concerned. The U.S. is the best target ineffective leaders in undemocratic countries ever had.

So as a Christmas present for those who scorn us, I’d like to toss you a few shoes. Chavez, Castro, et al, just let me know where to send them. I’ll be happy to share the addresses with my fellow Americans and maybe they’ll lob a few to you as well. American  media deserves a few tosses of the shoe too, for steadfastly refusing to point out cruelties in other countries and overemphasizing mistakes in our own.