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Front Page Article Archives
Where are we making progress? (.pdf 46KB)
Maybe I am missing something. It wouldn’t be the first time. But I was taking a broad look at our federal government’s policies and how we are doing on a wide range of national problems and issues. After about an hour, I couldn’t find one area I thought we were seeing any significant progress.
The closest I could come to seeing anything positive was the economy. The stock market is not doing badly right now. Yet, that is but one indicator. If one looks at the longer terms trends...from trade deficits to future entitlement commitments to the national debt and eventual war bills coming due this temporarily rosy picture turns sour quickly.
Then there’s the War on Terror (the “Call of this generation” as the President has termed it). Can we say we are making good progress in the fight against those who hurt us on September 11th? I suppose that depends on one’s definition of the word “progress”. If enacting new laws and granting sweeping powers to monitor and keep track of the activities of all of us is considered “progress” then perhaps a case can be made that positive movement is occurring. If, however, we look at whether the radical ideas and hatreds that motivated the Mohammed Attas of the world to do what they did have at all subsided or been curtailed one would have to conclude that they are, in fact, worse since 9/11 than they were then.
And the balance of power problems in our government between the Executive and Legislative Branches is also not only NOT getting better, but worsening. Even with the midterm election takeover by the Democrats the most Congress can do to defend their now ceded former prerogatives are non-biding resolutions that STILL have problems getting passed. Considering the Unitary Doctrine the White House adheres to as far as determining where THEY see the limits of Executive power (do they even recognize ANY limits on it?) it is not certain that even binding resolutions would make any difference. But non-binding resolutions are useless. And maybe even unpassable. Which is faintly unbelievable.
Health care reform has taken another detour into delay-land with the President’s plan to tax those who receive too generous an amount of insurance to help those who receive little or none at all looking like a Marxist bad joke. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”. When I said that “sometimes you need a little socialism to prevent a lot of socialism” this is not what I meant.
On the question of jobs and prosperity for Americans we are not only in a strange place, we aren’t even really discussing it as a nation. It has become akin to several other subjects that seem vitally important, yet are almost absent from our national concerns.
For example: The major U.S. automakers are in terrible trouble and cutting lots of jobs (again) and it is almost completely ignored. Manufacturing jobs deserting the nation in droves...not on the radar screen. A generation of upcoming Americans who may be the first in a very long time (ever?) to not do as well economically as their parents. Again, who is making this a front-page issue? If it isn’t on the agenda, how can we make any progress addressing it?
Then there’s education, which is a key component of the jobs problem. We bought into an economic model in the 1990’s that requires the very best of education if one is to get ahead and we then provide something much less than that. I often ask people about the “average Joes” in this society and ask what are we going to do when they cannot compete. The response is often that “that’s the way the world works...some lose, some win”. I agree with this. Yet, there is a tipping point somewhere when if enough “average Joes” can’t make it that will end up really hurting all the rest of us who can. If one in twenty people in the U.S. is on welfare because they can’t find a job that pays them enough you have one sort of society. If one in five can’t, you have another. A recent (slightly biased) report claims that 34% of the jobs here in Oregon where I live will not even support the single job holder...much less a family. While it isn’t the country’s job to see that such jobs DO pay enough to support an individual, it is our leader’s jobs to see to it that they do not actively make it harder for people to get ahead. They are doing just that now.
Finally, on the corruption in government front, the shell game continues. Several articles have been published showing all the loopholes sought by our legislators in any ethics reform package.
Here’s one: www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=10495
While they are out trumpeting that “the corrupt culture of Washington is being reformed”, they are actively seeking ways to circumvent the whole point of the legislation. Thus proving, once again, that the foxes cannot be trusted to redesign the ethics chicken coop.
There are other areas too where we need to make progress as a nation and are making, instead, little or no headway. If we want to keep screaming about how important National Security is perhaps we should realize that the idea of National Security is just that...security for the nation. And terrorists and evildoers are just one of the threats our to our security. If we don’t soon deal with some of the other threats (some of which were mentioned above) we will soon find out some of the other ways National Security can be damaged.
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Past Home Page Articles
The Whig Party Appears (.pdf 42KB)
So, let's just start this off by saying that I didn't even know there WAS a modern American Whig party when I started calling myself a “neo-Whig”. Then, as I mentioned on a recent show, I read where Keith Olbermann labeled himself as “probably a Whig” in an magazine interview. And now, lo and behold, I get a “friends request” on the show's MySpace account for an entity calling itself “The American Whig Party”.
2006 Elections (.pdf 56KB)
First off, let me say that I am happy that the Democrats were able to capture the House (and maybe the Senate) in Tuesday's election. I have always been a big fan of the Founder's ideas of the Balance of Power and felt we have been very ill served by the Republicans controlling the Presidency, the House and the Senate.
Sending the Democrats Down To Triple-A (.pdf 12KB)
The Republicans are ready to be taken. They are weak, battered, beset by scandal and problems and have a quagmire in Iraq that hangs about their neck like an Albatross.
The Voice of Big Brother (.pdf 42KB)
So, now the surveillance cameras in Great Britain are talking to the people they are watching.
Iranian Ambush (.pdf 55KB)
This Iranian leader is no man to be trifled with. President Bush just had a gauntlet thrown at his feet by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , an offer to meet in a globally televised debate over the issues that divide the two nations, he dare not pick that gauntlet up.
Playing Into Osama's Hands (.pdf 14KB)
The big news at the moment is the terror attacks directed at airlines that authorities in the U.K. say they have thwarted. The part of the story that stands out to me is how few people it takes to throw the whole world into a panic. Besides air travel, everything from world stock markets to international relations have been affected by a handful of individuals.
Trading Frenzy (.pdf 60KB)
First of all, let me start this column off by saying that I could be wrong. I get a much better response when I push unpopular ideas if I say this right off the bat. It’s especially important to say this when at least 50% of your audience probably disagrees with you on the subject, as mine does on the issue of trade.
Who Cares About The American Worker (.pdf 62KB)
The current crop of Americans may have a harder time providing for themselves and their families than their parents did. This is not the normal condition in the U.S., where the maxim has always been that each generation has a better chance at living a prosperous life than those who came before.
A Semi-Popular War (.pdf 59KB)
What if they gave a war and only half the country showed up?
That is a play on a phrase popular with the left in the 1960’s when the Vietnam War was at its height. The line used to be “what if they gave a war and nobody came?” It is relevant today however, because the reality that many in this country oppose the War on Terror as it has been characterized and fought makes it a very different sort of conflict than, say, World War Two.
Living up to the Hype (.pdf 53KB)
As someone who has been hoping for many years that a chink would appear, simultaneously, in the armor of both the Democrats and Republicans I don’t know how to react to the news that I seem to be getting from all quarters that this time has come.
Tis the Season (.pdf 13KB)
Well, you know the political season is heating up when the wedge issues start making their traditional appearance. With this week's announcement that President Bush plans on involving himself in the gay marriage debate we can now be sure that the important business of the day will be brushed aside so that we can concentrate on the issues where the Democrats and Republicans really differ. As a political independent I have so say I couldn't care less.
The McCartyistic Left (.pdf 11KB)
How responsible are you for the policies of your government? This issue is at the forefront of a vote that passed today taken at a meeting of Britain’s largest higher education union. The union members were voting to consider boycotting Israeli professors and scholars over what members termed the Jewish state’s "apartheid" policies in the occupied territories.
Two Party Totaltarianism (.pdf 11KB)
It will be interesting to see what historians in the far-flung future write about the United States we live in now. With time comes perspective. Events that are going on now will have played out and those who write about these times in future days will say then what we are now, but cannot see, or perceive due to our closeness to current events.
Breaker of Nations (.pdf 12KB)
Since the main issue in American politics since September 11th 2001 has been national security, it seems worthwhile to take a closer look at what can lay a great nation low beyond the obvious, knee-jerk level. We in the U.S. focus a great deal on a pre-emptive strategy to foil attacks and “take the battle to the enemy” in our current War on Terror, and yet we ignore the fact that our enemy could achieve their aims without ever winning any victories.
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