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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

> This evening I was in a Mart and went to get some canned mushrooms,  
> having
> eaten all we gathered here long ago in the season, more's the pity.   
> The store
> brand was 56 cents and was a product of China.  Another brand was 58  
> cents and
> was the product of the USA (I always look).  Why in the name of  
> reason do we
> have the Chinese growing and canning mushrooms for us.  Just insane.

You do know, of course. Marts seek maximum profit, period. If any  
foreign source can reliably deliver the desired product cheaper than a  
US supplier, then it will be done.
> Regionalism for me means that if it can be done by any means close  
> to home,
> do it there and only if it is just impossible then go to another  
> state, another
> country, another continent.  For example, I also bought some oranges  
> at the
> produce stand.  This is toward the end of in season oranges and the  
> just don't
> grow here so  I am still being a true Regionalist when I opt for the  
> oranges.

I have more citrus than I will consume before it rots. How shall we  
solve the 2,000-mile transport energy issue?
> We should be encouraging other countries to be as self-sufficient as  
> they can
> be, not entwine them in our lopsided petro-dollars for everything  
> valuable
> you've got schemes.

Ethically and morally, yes. Then enter the factors of free market,  
free enterprise, capitalism. You can encourage your neighbor to be  
self-sufficient (near-impossible), or you can exploit him. The latter  
has been our practice. The strong and focussed win. It is so in Nature.

Consider, openly, that we are free to live as we do, largely because  
we are impregnable to invasion. That impregnability comes from massive  
economic strength. Much of that strength derives from petro-profits.