A couple of days ago, I wrote that we should all be blessed for a variety of reasons. Today, I think it's safe to say that we all should not only be prepared for what lies ahead in this country, but sadly, we should also be prepared to jump ship.
Steve Gilliard and others had a field day of rants against those that were choosing to flee to Canada in light of the Election last year, questioning their courage and patriotism. But there are some things that are coming down the pike that should not just worry, but frighten all of us. I love this country and want to stick it out here to make things right, but if what I hypothetically see becomes reality, I and many other Americans may have no choice but to leave.
My reasons below:
The first reason is economic issues. Before Katrina hit, we all knew about the pending debt crash when the Chinese finally decide to stop carrying our load. Those of us who are currently in debt (myself included and probably more than a million more now as a result of Katrina) will find ourselves in incredibly severe money pinches, so much so that we could lose everything.
Now that the hurricane disaster has displaced hundreds of thousands and wiped out an entire major US city and key Gulf port, that other "R" word that nobody wants to talk about will be rearing its ugly head very soon. BOP has been one of the best resources for detailed, domestic discussions, and here is Hale Stewart outlining this scenario:
While the initial damage phase is over, there are several Katrina caused major forces at play that could cause serious damage possibly leading to a recession. The worst part about this "perfect economic storm" is there is little the country can do for it from a policy perspective. In essence, the country made its bed and now may be forced to sleep in it.
...snip...
1.) Natural disasters are a zero sum game. Communities essentially rebuild what was lost. Claims the rebuilding effort will help to grow the economy are counter to the historical record.
2.) The Federal government - which is already in a record amount of debt - will increase its total debt to pay for Katrina's damage. At some point, lenders will demand a higher interest rate because of total US debt.
3.) An already tapped-out, heavily indebted consumer now faces spiking energy prices going into the economically important Christmas season.
While Christmas should be the least of Americans' concerns, there is no doubt that come 2006, it won't be a matter of if but when we have a recession. And when the new bankruptcy laws go into effect (don't be fooled, they WILL go into effect), that's when the real economic devastation will begin. Hale Stewart, in another article, states and I quote:
Sound national fiscal management is the way we as a country plan for a rainy day. If we plan well (balance budgets), the disaster's long-term fiscal effects are diminished. If we plan poorly (not balancing budgets), the disaster's long-term fiscal impact runs far deeper causing far more problems.
We now have two symbols to indicate how well this country has planned for such disasters: the broken levees of New Orleans & FEMA. The former representing the incoming crash of our nation's economy, the latter our ability to respond to that crisis. Not a pretty picture is it?
If the right-wing nutjobs are so up in arms about the looting of New Orleans, what makes them think it won't happen, say, in Atlanta? When people pull out guns on those who cut them off from getting gas at the pump, you mean to tell me that a possible looting riot could not happen there?
For all their tough talk about law & order and crime (which I fully agree with Digby will be the one thing they will run on), I'd wager that the GOP does not understand that increased economic squeeze and poverty to the point of self-survival does nothing to stifle crime. People who have nothing to lose except their life will do whatever it takes to survive - loot, mug, rape, murder, you name it. The New Orleans Screw Up showed to all of America what can very likely happen in this country in other major cities if the economy crumbles beneath us.
Now an economic crash is horrible and greatly sets back a country for quite a while, but it doesn't mean that it makes a country unable to live freely. People lived on through the Depression and persevered. It is only when that freedom is being threatened by the slippery slope of a police state that makes one citizen wonder if he or she can actually live in peace and free. Case in point:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled yesterday (September 9th) that the President has the power indefinitely to detain Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen arrested on U.S. soil.
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It is difficult to overstate the significance of Judge Luttig's ruling. With nothing more than congressional silence to go on, Judge Luttig endorses the proposition that a President may single out an American citizen, grab him on American soil, and do something close to making him "disappear."
Ian Welsh had this to add:
If this decision stands then anyone can be held at the President's order without ever receiving a trial, access to counsel or even without anybody ever knowing.
The only people who can overturn this decision are the Supreme Court justices.
If they don't overturn it, then you no longer live in a country where you are free from completely arbitrary detention. You live in a banana republic where citizens can be seized arbitrarily at the whim of the government. That is not an exageration in any way, shape, or form.
John Roberts looks to be confirmed by the Senate to be Chief Justice, and Justice Luttig is rumored, by TalkLeft, to be Bush's choice to replace O'Connor.
Regardless what you or I may think about Jose Padilla, if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the government, then hypothetically speaking, for example, President Bush can have Cindy Sheehan declared an enemy combatant and detain her indefinitely without access to counsel or even a trial, and it would be legal under judicial precedent. Anyone who dare question this government, through protest or even writings here on this blog, could be held indefinitely as an enemy combatant. Even a political opponent challenging the executive office in a fair electoral process could be held as an enemy combatant by any current president, Democrat or Republican, and aside from a revolution or a constitutional amendment, there would be nothing we could do about it.
Folks, the day the Supreme Court declares this action constitutional is the day this country and all it has stood for dies. Economic woes can be healed, maybe not immediately but gradually, but when one nation slips into a dictoral mode, it is very hard if not impossible to revert back without help from the outside (case in point, Nazi Germany). Regardless of party, I don't want to live in such a state - where money is scarce and I run the risk of being jailed in a tiny cell for the rest of my life without due process. I don't think anybody does.
And it is in such a dire situation that we may actually have to stop in the effort of plugging the holes and jump off this sinking ship, and hope that an island is nearby. I hate saying that and I don't want to believe it, but this is not the kind of country I want nor is it one I want to defend. Some may still say that our checks and balances and constitutional law will still prevail against tyrannical moves like this. I for one believe that there is some strange fate working today that brings us a new HBO series called Rome. On that note, Ian Welsh once again speaks:
It's said that the genius of the American system as created by the founders is that it can survive incompetent, venal or malign office holders. The system includes checks and balances precisely so that the actions of any one or a few individuals can't capsize it. In this it is superior to either monarchical systems or parliamentary systems (which have less checks - Prime Ministers are often very close to elected dictators).
There's a fair bit of truth to the statement - or there was.
...snip...
You can't serve two masters is an ancient law and in Washington, in state capitals, in city halls - a large chunk, if not a majority, of political appointees and elected officials serve two masters.
And they serve the one who pays them most - best.
...A politician only has to be able to play the game, not do his or her ostensible job. Most legislators don't read the legislation they're voting up or down except to ensure that their little piece of legislation favouring their donor base is in there. Most judges have their assistants write most of their decisions. Most executives don't even review the budgets they submit for ratification except to be sure the pork they ordered to appease their paymasters is in.
As a result you have omnibus bills that are nothing but one piece of business ostensibly for the public good, with hundreds of tacked on bills serving someone's interest -but not the publics'.
That's simply the way business is done. It's government for those who can loot it, by those who have been bought by those who can afford them.
...snip...
No system is of such genius that it can survive both incompetence and outright looting. The problem is, that not content to merely loot today's surplus, the looting has continued into tomorrow's surplus. Borrowing against the future prosperity of America because today's is not sufficient is the name of the game.
No society that is not led well over long periods can prosper. The US appears to be in the last frenzy of looting of Empire. The end days are nigh, the looting has extended to eating the seed corn and twenty years from now, seed corn gone, Americans will find that America is not unique and that the sun does set on every great nation. As usual they will have been destroyed from within by the home grown rats, fat upon the grain of their fellow citizens.
The US has not been led well for many years now. However, as much as we can blame Reagan, Bush I & II, Clinton, spineless Democrats, corrupt Republicans, FEMA, etc. - and we rightly should do so - the American public as a whole cannot escape total blame either, for it is we who allowed this to happen. By our votes and/or our own indifference to utilize the vote, and our own selfish desires that have superceded the greater needs of our nation, we have brought this upon ourselves. The buck may stop with the President but it is we and our national and local representatives, and their appointees, who put him there in the first place.
Our simple-mindedness against petty issues like gay marriage, Intelligent Design, a Culture of Life, and entertainment censorship, just to name a few, have blinded us from what really matters to us as a nation, and thanks once again to an atheist with an agenda, it looks like that simple-minded cluelessness is going to continue.
Friends, I want to stay here, and I'm sure many if not all us who live here want to stay. The royal, righteous facade of this President and Congress is being torn and revealed for what it truly is - a massive cancer on this nation. If there is a silver lining it is that miracles have happened for quite a few inflicted with this disease. While we fight to preserve our freedom, our security, our real American way of life, a miracle may be needed to save this country. Never before have Jesus's dying words mean as much as they do now:
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."