In the tens of thousands of years our species has been on this Earth, there has always been one rule that governed the orderly distribution of community resources: the lead hunter got first dibs not only on the choicest morsels from the hunt but on everything from the warmest part of the cave to the most succulent of the womenfolk.

This is not only right and moral in an intellectual sense, but it is right and good for the survival of the community. Any village which fails to reward its most productive members will in the end fail in keeping alive its least productive members. One only has to observe lions in Africa to realize that this is a law of nature.

Now let us examine the life of Americans. We have all read the following statistic over the years: Americans are only 5% of the world’s population, but use almost 25% of the world’s resources.

I have two responses: so what and why only 25%? If a country is prosperous at all, it is due to America. We could have left Europe in shambles after World War Two, but no, we spent billions in the Marshall Plan rebuilding Europe. Because of America, by 1952, European countries had a 35% higher economic output than just before the war.

We could have left Japan in ruin, but it is now an economic powerhouse because of America. In 1935 Japan had a GDP per capita ($64) that was one-ninth that of America's ($540). Today, Japanese citizens enjoy a GDP per capita of $32,817 compared to our own of $46,443.

We could have ignored Japanese atrocities in Manchuria and China, but no, we stopped the genocide and barbarism and saved the peoples of China. That the Chinese do not bow down and kiss the feet of American tourists visiting their country is an abomination and an insult to the memory of all Americans who died protecting them.

"As you sow, so shall you reap..."
Photo by: Robert Silverwood

If America is forced to reduce its carbon footprint we will be forced to reduce food exports. What, you thought we grow corn without using fuel, without emitting greenhouse gases? Cap our carbon emissions and millions will die of hunger.

And what of the oil-rich Arabs? Well, without the efforts of Standard Oil of California, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Bin Faisal Bin Turki Bin Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud of Saudi Arabia would have been just King Bin Fartin huddled around a tent with his 10,000 princes feeding goats in the desert.

A lot of that 25% of the world's resources are used in keeping the world safe, healthy, and fed. If the world were smart then Europeans, Asians, Africans would be insisting that America take a bigger share, eat the juiciest morsel, take the warmest part of the cave. After all, we deserve it.