My Dearest Defenders of Justice,
Let’s raise our eyes beyond the shores of our divided nation — to the broader stage where America once led with poise and principle, and now lingers like a forgotten actor reading last year’s script.
While we slap tariffs on our allies and pout over trade deficits, the rest of the world has not stood still. Quite the opposite. They have organized. They have modernized. And they have moved on — without us.
The CPTPP — the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership — was signed in our absence. The RCEP — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership — includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and fifteen others. These are not symbolic agreements. These are tectonic shifts in the global economy.
And what do we offer in return? Trade wars with Canada. Tariffs on European wine and cheese. Petty squabbles and punitive taxes. As the rest of the world builds bridges, we dig trenches.
This isn’t just geopolitical theater — it’s economic suicide. Markets that once relied on American goods and ingenuity are finding other partners. Supply chains are realigning. Investors are fleeing uncertainty.
Worse, we’re undermining decades of trust. We led the creation of the post-World War II trading system. We wrote the rules. Now, we’re tearing up the rulebook and wondering why no one wants to play with us.
This idea that retreat is strength — that isolation is independence — is both outdated and dangerous. We are stronger with alliances, not in spite of them. Trade, properly negotiated, is not surrender. It is strategy.
The truth is stark: while we wall ourselves in, the world walks on. And soon, if we’re not careful, they’ll forget to look back.
With a world-weary heart,
Lady LiberTea
Editor-in-Chief of Lady LiberTea
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