Imagine a nation where people are starving, they line the streets just to buy some coffee which is priced at $100,000,000,000 and cheese at $200,000,000,000. Alas! How did this come to be? A king decided to tax foreign goods because of spite and petty political squabbles with other countries. This nation already had struggling farmers and instead of helping the farmers in Divisio (the country of division) these were goods that the great land of Divisio could not produce so the people did the only thing they could — leave.

Now, of course, the United States is not actually facing $100,000,000,000 inflation. This was merely an analogy, but the concerns are still the same. But I truly am concerned. I speak to you not only as a citizen who loves French cheese and coffee but as a concerned citizen of humanity who sees the potential for $100,000,000,000 inflation to become a reality if we continue to let petty politics guide our souls.

Raising prices on goods the people want actually works against the free market and not for it. If a leader can manipulate prices to benefit his base, is this really supporting the free market he claims to support?

Gentle reader, our dear Patria finds herself in the midst of a squabble involving cheese, coffee and more than that — our whole diplomatic future.

Now, Mr. President, I have no doubt that you do take pride in expressing concern for the farmers. But many foods we cannot grow in the United States, there is no "American coffee option" unless you want the finest beans from Latin America (which is not a bad choice at all!).

Raising the prices on cheese will not hurt the markets of Europe, if anything they will just create more and more division between countries that should be allies. We need the nations of the EU in order to pursue commerce, education, and cultural exchange. If we make things harder for Americans wanting to travel and do business with nations such as France, Germany, Sweden, Poland- some of the most powerful nations of the world — what does it profit us?

The people of the United States love cheese! There is nothing more enjoyable (to me) than a cup of coffee and some cheese while brushing up on the latest politics. In my horror and indignation I found out about the cheese tariff and the first thing my mind ran to was, "Alas, must I run to the store and buy all the cheese?"

If anything it will cause the EU to become resentful to us, in an age when we need them the most to combat global issues of climate change, security and of course to allow Americans to freely study (and hopefully someday allow for American migration there because Americans also deserve freedom of movement as a human right!) and live in harmony as they learn about many new countries and new cultures that are not our own.

Diplomacy is a careful game, such as walking on a log on the edge of a waterfall — one wrong move and alas you may fall. This type of move may make the EU stop importing stuff to us all together and we will get a food shortage. Diplomacy should also be focused- do we want the EU to increase military spending so we can reduce ours? Great! We need to focus this on the military/defense discussions and leave the starving American people out of this conundrum.

"A food shortage? Alas, what is this nonsense?" Many may ask in dismay

I shall tell you, my dear reader. In a country such as the United States where the cost of living is already skyrocketing, and farmers are struggling- they cannot produce enough food for the whole nation and themselves. I shall not pretend to know the details of the agricultural world, but I do know that a food shortage can happen anywhere even here. There are also many foods as I mentioned that we cannot produce- do American people deserve to suffer because the president is mad at other nations?

The world will go on without us, and we will be the ones missing out.

We should never assume that playing with food or playing with currency will allow things to function just the way they are. If anything, we will be the ones losing out in the end. Alas, my dear Patria, living in division and uncertainty. On a lighter note, I can say, I wish for you, my Patria, a world full of French cheese and Colombian coffee. But on a more serious note, my Patria, please keep in mind the importance of diplomacy.

Once you play with the food the citizens of a country eat, you begin to narrowly chip away at their freedom to decide and gradually the food will become less and less and we may follow the path of Divisio.

Vive la republique (et le fromage!)