Descend into the Maelstrom

To mix things up a little bit, I am publishing here some words and thoughts which are not my own.  The following was written by someone who requested to be published on this site, but wishes to remain anonymous.  Although I didn’t write this screed, I happen to agree with a lot of it:

I’ve never been as interested in politics as I am now.  And why not, as it seems that politics have never been so interesting.  Hence the curse, “May you live in interesting times.”  While there are a lot of topics to hit, including the Republican effort to legislate hegemony through excessive gerrymanders etc., three other topics appeal to me - a trio of issues if you will. While some people are very upset by the ascension of Alito and Roberts to the court, I can’t complain too much.  After all, it was a Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who tried to “pack” the Supreme Court by adding six justices to the court to make a quorum of fifteen.  Hey, you can’t fault a brother for trying.  Interestingly, I think FDR is clearly the transformative president that 43 wants so desperately to be.  Bush may well be end up being a bellwether chief executive, but it is more likely to happen in the foreign policy arena than domestically.

Which leads to the first key issue: Iran and the Middle East.  The irony here is beyond comprehension.  Over 2,000 US troops and countless other coalition forces and indigenous indigent Iraqis have died in a war that was sold as an effort to secure Saddam’s alleged WMD.   Now, the very country next door to Iraq, Iran, has announced its intention to get into some serious nuclear dabbling and kick out IAEA inspectors.  Now we really do have a huge problem with WMD in the region.  Too bad we cried wolf less than three years ago on this same issue and now we have no credibility.  And after Abu Ghraib, Gitmo, the lack of WMD in Iraq, the pathetic post-war planning in Iraq, etc, who the heck would believe anything we said?  Any country that didn’t hate the US five years ago sure as hell does now and I honestly can’t blame them.  How would we be viewed in the Middle East if we invade Iran?  And then we would act surprised when the terrorists bombed us?  Gee, why do they hate us?

The point is that during the cold war the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (aptly acronymed MAD) saved us.  Loosely, the USA and USSR each had enough nukes to destroy the world several times over, so each had a strong disincentive not to use them.  This led to “cold” war and proxy wars, but not nuclear winter.  A terrorist who wants to put a bomb in a shipping container and detonate it in New York Harbor, Baltimore, or the Port of Long Beach has no such compunction.  As we saw with A.Q. Khan (Pakistani national who sold nuclear know-how on the black market), there is a real risk that terrorists or rogue states will acquire hydrogen or atom bombs.  Now Bush has declared we will militarily protect Israel from Iran.  Is this a bold gesture or our boarding pass to World War III?  Only time will tell.

In this climate, it seems that energy security would be a key topic.  No need to be a tree hugger here, it should be evident to any national security hawk that being dependent on middle eastern oil may bite us in the rear end.  Sadly, this administration is clearly in the thrall of the oil and auto lobbies (see entry under secret energy taskforce meetings) and won’t act.  Heck, I give Bush props for even mentioning it and making it an issue.  Though it may be a bit disingenuous… as an ex oil man did he just realize that the US was dependent on oil?  Sarcasm aside, I think that the country that invented the airplane, the assembly line, and road-tripped to the moon could resolve its dependence on foreign oil if it were in the mood to try.

On to our third topic (smooth segue, huh?).  For years Republican have laid claim to the mantle of being the party of national security and the military.  Not quite sure the history here, although they are the party that gave us star wars…  This claim to be the party that promotes and maintains the armed forces should seem ridiculous at the present time.  Through the extended use of National Guard troops and Army Reserve troops on the front line, Bush, Rummy, Cheney and Wolfy have destroyed morale and recruitment for these units for the foreseeable future.  Frequently used domestically to aid in control of disaster areas, for infrastructure security, and for other similar tasks, these troops have been overwhelmed abroad and the equipment procured for their use at home has been left in Iraq.   Reservists and Guard troops have lost income at home and left their families in danger of losing their breadwinners.  I might have considered joining one of these groups a few years ago as a chance to be a literal weekend warrior – but now who will sign up to die? 

Recruiting isn’t going much better for the regular Army, Marines etc, as enlistment quotas are missed and standards in place for decades are lowered.  Rumsfeld is planning to spend most of his budget on pie-in-the-sky weapons systems that may never pan out. This administration has effectively destroyed the efficacy of our armed forces, but they don’t stop there.  Anyone who has the temerity to criticize the administration or its policies on the military is promptly slandered.  It happened to Kerry, and the Republican operatives tried it on Jack Murtha too.  How disgusting.  The party that claims to value military service in the name of freedom is led by draft dodgers whose henchmen smear citizens who actually served.  That’s the way to incentivize future military service for kids today!  I dunno what Kerry or Murtha did in Vietnam, whether they earned their medals or not.  But I do know that they were there.  Which is more than can be said for some.

There are two sides to every story (hit my colloquialism quota there), and the Democrats have to be seen as at least as culpable as the Republicans.  If you can’t score seats in the Senate and House in these mid-term elections, and show the populace what’s wrong with the incumbents, then just give up.  It doesn’t get much easier than this.  Bush has overseen the cessation of an entire Louisiana civilization and the Dems let him spin it away in the press.  The Republican press machine is pretty slick.  As they say, they’re doing a heck of a job.