Australia, teetering....

It is always interesting to see how different nations handle certain situations that occur, whether it be inside their borders or externally.
Some nations are so level headed that it is quite disturbing. Scandinavian nations like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and so on, just seem to have this supernatural form of calmness which is applied to each and every problem which arises. They are the ultimate Good Neighbour States. They are up to date with their membership payments to the United Nations (Yes, children, you have to pay if you are a member, although the United States has been as much as $1.18 BILLION in arrears as recently as November 2010, but Mr Obama says it will be up to date by the time he leaves office). I digress.
These nations are the ones that handle any storm; a mass shooting, the worst since World War 2? Have a trial, put him away. There doesn't seem to be the same hysteria you would find in, let's say,...Egypt, where this sort of thing could topple a government.

Personally speaking, I tend to attribute this sort of behaviour to a kind of National Personality. This is the kind of thing which gives certain countries a particular mind-set in dealing with the world.

Obviously I am going to make sweeping generalisations here, with no data to back it up, but I hope you will try and follow my argument....

Scandinavians tend to be patient, moral, tolerant (on the whole), and self-controlled.
Latin Americans are passionate, impulsive, demonstrative, and emotional.
Mediterranean nations can be similar to Latin Americans, but are more conservative and also very protective of their personal freedoms.

These are just a few examples, but I hope I have made my point. Most nations have a particular kind of personality, by and large.

Which brings me to the lunatics.

Certain nations are so NUTS that their actions are a little hard to explain. They are not necessarily evil (although some can be), nor are they necessarily out of control (again, some can be).
What they are can only be explained by one word, and when you look at which nations have this condition, you may be surprised.
They are PARANOID.
Let me explain...

The Oxford English dictionary defines paranoia (in part), as;
"a mental condition characterised by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically worked into an organised system..."

I believe the United States of America is paranoid.
Here's why I think they are....
"..delusions of persecution, ...jealousy...self-importance...in an organised system.."

The U.S. fights regularly in far-away countries to protect "American interests".
But guys...they are FAR AWAY.
They might be owned by U.S. companies, but doesn't that make them interests of the company, not the nation? And how sensitive do you have to be to feel jealous about someone doing something on the other side of the world that you don't like? A bit too sensitive, maybe? Perhaps to the point of being  delusionally persecuted, perhaps??

If you are the most powerful nation on the planet, (and militarily, the U.S. has a combined armed forces budget larger than the next three largest COMBINED), then what the Hell are you afraid of??
I have no problem with humanitarian missions of force, but it does seem a bit coincidental that all those missions only happen in oil-rich nations, while Africa and Asia can see Genocide time and again, without a single U.S. soldier being seen anywhere near the place.

Now to the "organised system".
The political system in Washington is geared to keeping the United States "strong", at the "forefront of World Peace", and upholding American values. What this really means is that it is desperately trying to hold on to it's position as world leader, at a time when other nations, like China and India, are over-taking it. So, rather than admit defeat, it is claiming that everyone is picking on them.Terrorists are out to get them, so more force is required overseas. American interests in the Global Economy are being undermined, so trade treaties favouring the U.S. over it's trading partners must be put in place.Pacific Regional Security is under threat from China, so more troops are needed in the Philippines and Australia, Domestic Security is under threat from "home-grown" terrorists, so all phone records, text messages, e-mails and internet traffic is to be recorded and kept, so that if there is an attack, they can go back and track it down to a particular person way back when.

Sorry guys....that's a bit paranoid, to me at least....

I can understand why they could have been paranoid in the early days...just broke free of one of the greatest powers on earth at the time. Huge country and no real armed forces. Other great powers, like Spain and France sniffing around, ready to try and take over.
Yes I can understand paranoia then...but why now?

Paranoid people, and nations are obsessed with persecution. A paranoid nation will do its best to have as big a buffer between itself and any potential enemy as possible.
Israel is a paranoid State. Rightly so, too...it has many enemies on 3 sides, and an ocean on the other. It acts like any paranoid...it attacks at the slightest provocation, it seeks to push the enemy away from its borders to create a buffer.
Russia is paranoid, and its leader especially so. Yes it wants Crimea for it's wealth and historical Russian ownership, but it would really like the whole Ukraine as a buffer between itself and NATO. Remember, Ukraine was asking for NATO membership....right on Russia's border.
Australia has traditionally had a very low paranoia level. We didn't have to fight a war to be recognised. We were reasonably egalitarian to begin with, and we were large enough and wealthy enough to not feel threatened by migration. That is now changing.
Australians are beginning to resent the influx of foreigners in a way not seen since the Vietnam War caused a wave of refugees to suddenly seek us out as a future home. This is because we are now not so sure of our own future. Our jobs are dwindling, industry is dying, our politicians are not giving us positive visions of the future, only pictures of doom if we vote for their opponents.
It is up to US, the people of Australia, to build a future for ourselves. We are now in the same position as we were in the early 1950's. We have a growing population, fuelled by immigrants, just like after WW2. We are smart, wealthy as a nation, and we can make things better. We have proven it time and time again.
What we lack is politicians with guts, right across the spectrum, who are willing to go beyond what is safe, and push Australia away from the paranoia of holding on to our position in the past, and take us into a scary, but maybe exciting future.

I would rather do that than sit behind barbed wire in our little fortress, and continue to tell ourselves how safe we are and how great we used to be....