We've got a lot of problems. Some are worsening. We can't leave things up to the Prez who says - "We must win in Iraq for the security of Western civilization". Iraq is a big problem:
a. We never finished the job in Afghanistan
b. The world's most powerful military creates more terrorists than it kills
c. Our government has serious financial problems- we can't afford to spend 3-4 billion dollars a week in Iraq. We are neglecting human needs and investment for the future.
Mortar rounds land inside Baghdad's Green Zone every day. The Iraqi government cowers inside the Green Zone, afraid of its own people. One day after the British left Camp Abu Naji in Iraq, the fancy equipment that had been left for the Iraqi police was looted and destroyed, this August. Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani has ordered that the Iraqi national flag not be flown in Iraqi Kurdistan. Not a civil war when 25% of the country won't permit the flag to be flown?
John Robb tells the truth about America's business as usual wars, why we can't control jihadist insurgencies, why escalation of tension as Bush and Bolton are foolishly doing with Iran, makes things worse. See globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2006/08/playing_at_war.html#comments. The only winners in Iraq and Lebanon will be countries that stay out - maybe China, India & Russia
Bush also says that we must cut social security and Medicare benefits, that we can't afford "entitlements". He insists that current budget deficits are no problem- he'll soon have them cut in half. Why did our Congress
a. vote to invade Iraq
b. permit Bush's wild deficit spending
c. vote for the idiotic and super-expensive Medicare drug bill
d. Vote to further squeeze individuals who declare bankruptcy while allowing corporations in bankruptcy to escape from wage and pension obligations. The law forbids strikes against such corporate greed if the government declares that survival of the oppressor is "in the public interest". I mean Northwest Airlines, but every airline except maybe Southwest will file for bankruptcy and jettison obligations to their workers. This enhances corporate profitability, and reduces family income. Government data shows that entry level wages for high school and college graduates fell by 4% between 2001 and 2005, and fewer entry jobs had benefits- is that what you want for your grandchildren?
Mishel, Bernstein & Allegretto, The State of Working America 2006/2007 www.epinet.org/content.cfm/swa06_flier_082006 show us that productivity and corporate profits began to diverge from real family income in the 1970s. Read it.
Our healthcare mess- not just the 15% without insurance, it's also the corruption of many doctors by drug company gifts, lunches, the overuse of drugs when non-drug therapies work as well or better, profiteering private hospitals who cater to the richest, etc. The average US physician is visited 2.7 times a week by drug reps- no visits by public representatives; there are none. Congressmen and Senators are visited every day by friendly lobbyists, many of them former Congressional colleagues. How could they keep the public interest in mind? How can Congress, which works less than 300 days a year "consider" 11,500 bills each year? Do the math- they rely on lobbyists to write the bills and tell them how to vote. This makes sense because they need big bucks to get re-elected.
Attempts to preserve a sustainable planet are caught in the cross fire between fundamentalists of the corporate-dominated global economy and those of atavistic religious movements. Both work for abstractions "ever bigger GDP" and "Biblical rule (Quranic rule)" and ignore human needs. American workers have less money left over after basic expenses than they did in 1970. www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/0609/warren.php
Something that grew over 40 years can't be changed overnight. Forget the cult of personality. Hillary, Edwards, Kerry, they support the military industrial complex, their advisors are certified by Big Oil. Dean, Feingold, Lamont- they are better, but they can't do it alone. Not even Solomon could turn this ship around in four years. The reason Congress allowed the four disgraces listed above is because they work for the Corporations, not for us. We must prioritize: first things first and no sniping at Democrats or even Republicans who pass the basic test.
1. Pull out of Iraq in 12 months or less - details negotiable
2. Would the candidate authorize pre-emptive strikes on Iran when Bush announces "new information" that this is necessary to prevent another 9/11 or to "save Western civilization"? We will have October surprises. A peace candidate says "yes, I authorize retaliation against any government or organization that strikes us, but no pre-emptive wars",
3. Will he/she work to shift the balance from corporations and a focus on GDP to human needs, education, healthcare, pensions?
4. Will the candidate promise NO EARMARKS?
I get emails every few days asking for money for candidates from Emily's List, DFA, etc etc.. I then email the candidates and ask if they will take this pledge. A few do. I'd rather give them money than send it to MoveOn for fancy ads.
Will we who want a better world stick with the fight for decades, as the Corpocon military-industrial spokesmen have done? It's not Rumsfeld, it's not Bush, it's the thousands of spokesmen for American exceptionalism, privatization of war, and symbols over human needs. Difficult, yes, but there is hope. Better to resist while we still can.