It's Growing Up Time
So here we are bogged down in Iraq, pretty much there now by our lonesome, and also in Afghanistan, where we have a few helping hands but it is mostly and increasingly our burden. We also bear the expense of maintaining 700 bases in 130 or so countries where, as McCain elucidates, we’ve been for lots of years and they love us. In truth, some like us, some would like us gone, but at least we are not being killed nor do we go around killing people, ruining their weddings and blowing up their houses.
All of which is largely irrelevant.
It matters little if we are wining (winning what?) or losing (losing what we never had) in Iraq and Afghanistan. What really needs to be understood is that we can’t afford those wars, the empire, or the bloated military.
Neither Obama nor McCain seem to get it, nor unfortunately do most of the American people, although more and more are feeling the pain.
Make no mistake about it. We are in deep trouble. And the problems we have were largely the result of a badly managed government and an insufficiently regulated market. Without a 180 degree turn in government and a reordering of priorities things will not get better. They will get worse. This is an inevitable truth that the corporate controlled media will not let be printed or voiced.
The problems at home are so huge and growing at an accelerating rate than nothing less than a massive redirection of government can right the economy and repair the environment. Every second wasted worsens the situation. That US automakers have awakened from a Rip Van Winkle like snooze is nice but also largely irrelevant. It will take huge incentives and subsidies to get the more than 100 million gas guzzlers off the road and replace them with electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Unfortunately, there is no Will Rogers around to explain to us why we should not expect the market to fix what it broke. As he put it, “If stupidity got us into this mess, why can’t stupidity get us out of it.” Stupidity is of course the McCain campaign mantra. Basically, his position, hoping that you haven’t yet recognized the Bush administration responsibility for the mess we are in, is vote for me so I can continue what Bush did and by so doing make things even worse. He promises to win the wars, maintain the empire, cut taxes and balance the budget. People have been confined to insane asylums for less. What must be understood is that neither stupidity nor testicular adolescence will save us now.
Well, we don’t have to vote for McCain, do we? There is the alternative, Barack Obama. But there is no sense of urgency in that campaign, either. Well, that’s not true. There is a sense of urgency, but it is all about electing him. In fact, he and the campaign are willing to say just about anything to deal with that urgency. Both he and McCain are racing so fast to the middle to snare the befuddled, that they may collide and emerge as one candidate, Jorack McBama, and wouldn’t that confuse the hell out of everybody.
Lets be clear here, a 3 trillion dollar federal budget can do both harm and good. It has been a very long time since the federal budget was used to promote public good. Republicans by and large, subservient to the shibboleth that all government is bad, when in power diligently go around making it bigger and worse. If one wants to prove that government is bad, elect a Republican
Democrats, on the other hand, pride themselves on their lack of subservience to any ideas. So they govern without them. They do this by spending most of their time denying that they are “big spenders” and by finding some place to hide in the center where most people go to mingle with other non thinkers. Democrats seemingly succumb to political pundits who insist that thinking is not only inappropriate, but any anyone engaged in such activity are part of a vast Un-American radical conspiracy. Would that it be more vast.
As a result, regardless of which party is in power, government grows while the infrastructure of the US deteriorates, the environment is battered, energy costs skyrocket, the chaos from national disasters go unremedied, highways are flooded with SUVs and other high gas consuming vehicles, a rail system barely survives, sprawl metastasizes because of land misuse policies, poverty grows, health care diminishes, rust covers once flourishing factories, and a military on steroids threatens the world.
The military doesn’t really threaten the world, it shows off by beating up on little guys and thereby undermines our ability to win friends and influence people.
China, our only potential near term rival, not only watches and enjoys our misadventures, but also makes money off of them and increasingly has us by the short hairs. As our national debt spirals out of control, not only does China emerge as the major loan shark, but could at any moment decide to stop holding our chits and thereby deepen our fiscal crisis. Remember, Bush made the same promises that McCain is now making about tax cuts and balanced budgets and the results have been a greatly increased debt and rapidly growing unemployment. The interest on the debt has grown into one of the four big ticket items of the budget thus simultaneously enlarging the government while getting nothing of value from it. You do understand that China rakes in more and more of that interest.
Rather than seriously addressing the fast rising environmental crises, those who claim to be our leaders, cowardly and visionless, procrastinate. They labor mightily and bring forth mouse like tweaking initiatives that would produce energy efficient transportation by 2020 and by so doing reveal how completely they misjudge the magnitude of our problems.
The president whose understanding of economics seemingly ended when he memorized Little Bo-Beep and apparently has used that understanding to solve any and all problems. He heaps upon himself praise for steadfastly believing that if left alone things will right themselves. Even Herbert Hoover before he left office recognized that inanity of such thinking.
The government should be in the forefront in energy conservation. It should be a model to be emulated. All of its building should be solarized and its vehicles the most energy efficient. A portion of all local parks should be transformed for community urban farming as first steps to growing food closer to where it is eaten. The “Victory Gardens” of World War II need to be updated to and adapted to the current situation. Green industries need government stimulus packages. Individuals and corporations should be given tax relief for energy conservation and taxed appropriately for energy waste. Introduced should be a plan for regional self sufficiency and a rapid withdrawal from an unsustainable global economy. The most profligate of its energy consumers, the military, must be placed on a strict diet, using energy only when actually needed. Modern military is not only expensive to create, it is also expensive to maintain. Our shock and awe uses a hell of a lot of oil. Spending more for a military than the rest of the world combined does not increase security. It becomes a luxury we can no longer afford and thereby actually strengthens those who would be our enemies. And those enemies should be those that actually threaten or attack us, not chosen at whim.
Those that peddle fear to gain political power and the sleazy and sycophantic supporters in the media who do the same are the ones that should be feared. Reckless as well as mindless they drum up fear of the fantasy while ignoring reality. Far more dangerous is the imminent they close their eyes to.
All of which is largely irrelevant.
It matters little if we are wining (winning what?) or losing (losing what we never had) in Iraq and Afghanistan. What really needs to be understood is that we can’t afford those wars, the empire, or the bloated military.
Neither Obama nor McCain seem to get it, nor unfortunately do most of the American people, although more and more are feeling the pain.
Make no mistake about it. We are in deep trouble. And the problems we have were largely the result of a badly managed government and an insufficiently regulated market. Without a 180 degree turn in government and a reordering of priorities things will not get better. They will get worse. This is an inevitable truth that the corporate controlled media will not let be printed or voiced.
The problems at home are so huge and growing at an accelerating rate than nothing less than a massive redirection of government can right the economy and repair the environment. Every second wasted worsens the situation. That US automakers have awakened from a Rip Van Winkle like snooze is nice but also largely irrelevant. It will take huge incentives and subsidies to get the more than 100 million gas guzzlers off the road and replace them with electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Unfortunately, there is no Will Rogers around to explain to us why we should not expect the market to fix what it broke. As he put it, “If stupidity got us into this mess, why can’t stupidity get us out of it.” Stupidity is of course the McCain campaign mantra. Basically, his position, hoping that you haven’t yet recognized the Bush administration responsibility for the mess we are in, is vote for me so I can continue what Bush did and by so doing make things even worse. He promises to win the wars, maintain the empire, cut taxes and balance the budget. People have been confined to insane asylums for less. What must be understood is that neither stupidity nor testicular adolescence will save us now.
Well, we don’t have to vote for McCain, do we? There is the alternative, Barack Obama. But there is no sense of urgency in that campaign, either. Well, that’s not true. There is a sense of urgency, but it is all about electing him. In fact, he and the campaign are willing to say just about anything to deal with that urgency. Both he and McCain are racing so fast to the middle to snare the befuddled, that they may collide and emerge as one candidate, Jorack McBama, and wouldn’t that confuse the hell out of everybody.
Lets be clear here, a 3 trillion dollar federal budget can do both harm and good. It has been a very long time since the federal budget was used to promote public good. Republicans by and large, subservient to the shibboleth that all government is bad, when in power diligently go around making it bigger and worse. If one wants to prove that government is bad, elect a Republican
Democrats, on the other hand, pride themselves on their lack of subservience to any ideas. So they govern without them. They do this by spending most of their time denying that they are “big spenders” and by finding some place to hide in the center where most people go to mingle with other non thinkers. Democrats seemingly succumb to political pundits who insist that thinking is not only inappropriate, but any anyone engaged in such activity are part of a vast Un-American radical conspiracy. Would that it be more vast.
As a result, regardless of which party is in power, government grows while the infrastructure of the US deteriorates, the environment is battered, energy costs skyrocket, the chaos from national disasters go unremedied, highways are flooded with SUVs and other high gas consuming vehicles, a rail system barely survives, sprawl metastasizes because of land misuse policies, poverty grows, health care diminishes, rust covers once flourishing factories, and a military on steroids threatens the world.
The military doesn’t really threaten the world, it shows off by beating up on little guys and thereby undermines our ability to win friends and influence people.
China, our only potential near term rival, not only watches and enjoys our misadventures, but also makes money off of them and increasingly has us by the short hairs. As our national debt spirals out of control, not only does China emerge as the major loan shark, but could at any moment decide to stop holding our chits and thereby deepen our fiscal crisis. Remember, Bush made the same promises that McCain is now making about tax cuts and balanced budgets and the results have been a greatly increased debt and rapidly growing unemployment. The interest on the debt has grown into one of the four big ticket items of the budget thus simultaneously enlarging the government while getting nothing of value from it. You do understand that China rakes in more and more of that interest.
Rather than seriously addressing the fast rising environmental crises, those who claim to be our leaders, cowardly and visionless, procrastinate. They labor mightily and bring forth mouse like tweaking initiatives that would produce energy efficient transportation by 2020 and by so doing reveal how completely they misjudge the magnitude of our problems.
The president whose understanding of economics seemingly ended when he memorized Little Bo-Beep and apparently has used that understanding to solve any and all problems. He heaps upon himself praise for steadfastly believing that if left alone things will right themselves. Even Herbert Hoover before he left office recognized that inanity of such thinking.
The government should be in the forefront in energy conservation. It should be a model to be emulated. All of its building should be solarized and its vehicles the most energy efficient. A portion of all local parks should be transformed for community urban farming as first steps to growing food closer to where it is eaten. The “Victory Gardens” of World War II need to be updated to and adapted to the current situation. Green industries need government stimulus packages. Individuals and corporations should be given tax relief for energy conservation and taxed appropriately for energy waste. Introduced should be a plan for regional self sufficiency and a rapid withdrawal from an unsustainable global economy. The most profligate of its energy consumers, the military, must be placed on a strict diet, using energy only when actually needed. Modern military is not only expensive to create, it is also expensive to maintain. Our shock and awe uses a hell of a lot of oil. Spending more for a military than the rest of the world combined does not increase security. It becomes a luxury we can no longer afford and thereby actually strengthens those who would be our enemies. And those enemies should be those that actually threaten or attack us, not chosen at whim.
Those that peddle fear to gain political power and the sleazy and sycophantic supporters in the media who do the same are the ones that should be feared. Reckless as well as mindless they drum up fear of the fantasy while ignoring reality. Far more dangerous is the imminent they close their eyes to.
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