Tipping point: some bridges are not worth taking

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No, folks, it's hardly rocket science.

True, it is not yet "closing time."

Men still chase women. Nations still chase empire.

But the "tipping point" is very near.

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It has been an easy assumption that anything is possible.

That "no bridge is too far."

Now is the time to put aside the illusions.

Some bridges, no matter how enticing, just cannot be taken.

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We must ask if the American superpower has approached, is approaching, or will approach what the Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz called the "tipping point"

We must ask whether for a well seasoned man, well seasoned women are still worth the trouble of the chase. Everyone has just too much "baggage."

Tipping Point:

When a nation on the military offense reaches the point in its aggressive operations where it is ever more costly to defend its acquisitions.

Or when a well seasoned man decides that new relationships are no longer worth the "lifting of never ending heavy baggage."

Where garrisoning troops, supplying them, defending them drains a nation's power and eventually requires retreat.

As did Napoleon after he sent his forces in to occupy Russia in 1812.

As did Hitler after he attempted to do the same thing in 1941.

As the U.S. did after it attempted to occupy and and shape Vietnam.

Both men and nations must stop to ask "is the objective worth the cost of the chase?"

In their sixties men and women are like firmly potted plants, more like rigid Redwood trunks than like flexible saplings. Preformed by decades of living, they are unlikely to freely dance in a rhythm of fresh romance, of new union.

Yes, there can be friendship and an occasional date.

But no more overseas "wars of occupation."

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Now is a magical moment.....

Let's put together President Obama, Carl von Clausewitz, Afghanistan, Iraq, the American Medical Association, healthcare reform...

Let's add to that shrinking credit cards, shrinking credit, unending exploding deficits -- and the prospect of spending one million a year for every additional American soldier sent to Afghanistan.

Remember "Hey, Hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"

A slogan by Americans who resisted the Vietnam war....

Back when President Lyndon Baines Johnson thought he could have "both guns and butter."

The choice is different today.

"Can we have both guns and doctors?"

As Obama has ramped up his decision on more troops to Afghanistan, scarcely anyone has asked the question:

"What can the United States afford?"

It has been an easy assumption that anything is possible.

That "no bridge is too far."

Now is the time to put aside the illusions.

Take note, 'O Men and Nations.

Some bridges just cannot be taken.

Ah, but maybe it is not quite too late. Maybe just one more...

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