Bob Schieffer on ‘Face the Nation’ spoke today of his friend Melvin Laird, former Defense Secretary of Nixon’s from 1969 to 1973, who speaks concern of America’s war in Afghanistan. His concern if that we are looking to Nationalize a country that lives as autonomous tribes.

I agree and it is why we will eventually fail in Afghanistan. Our country continues to view the rest of the planet as something to Americanize. It’s a nice idea, but as Paul Harvey always said: We are not one world. To pretend that people can be just like us is to make the fatal errors we made with the American indians.

I’ve been studying the fate of the Florida Seminoles in the past few months and it is astounding how stupid our country was to marginalize a group and throw money to solve a perceived problem. All we ended up doing is move around a “problem” for real estate investors with the American people holding the purse. Too many taxpayer dollars disappeared into various Government projects claiming to be for the American indians but really went to buy and sell land and large drainage projects.

The similarity is that the Seminoles wanted nothing to do with the American government, it’s money or it’s land. After a few decades of pushing, the Seminoles took it and found themselves addicted to government money. I’m concerned we’re doing it again in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democracies are good, but that is not the culture these folks live. Though it may happen to some extent initially, in the end these countries are sure to be as they have for centuries.

I would love to see more freedom and democracy, but let’s clean up our own area within our own borders first… one being by firmly establishing our own borders…. before dictating others… that is, IF even we can.