Back from Vegas strip (outside Las Vegas proper) and I want to report that things out in the desert are very, very clear (politically - a big wind blew in some ozone pollution so we could barely see the Grand Canyon). However for unfettered capitalism Vegas is less simple than you would think.
For starters Vegas is not an adult Disneyland. When you walk on marble there it is real marble, the Eiffel tower is half size etc. but still attention to architectural is much more of a Dresden reconstruction level than a theme park. The strip is not just for gamblers, our Gondola driver informed us that it is the wedding and honeymoon capital of the world and we, and the other family we traveled with, found it to be way more kid friendly then you would think (Circus Circus, pirate show, dolphin and tiger zoo, ice cream in Venice, ...). Plus an occasional community touch like you don't have to walk through the slot machines or pay money to see the enormous dancing water cannon fountains; in fact the best view is from Eiffel. And there's a monorail built by a local bank. Nice place to visit but you definitely don't want to live there and neither does America - join me over the bump and we explore why Obama and this election are key to keeping what happened in Vegas in Vegas.
First thing to notice in a town of uncompromised capitalism is that its all services. Manufacturing requires a strong government. Ask an Indian why cheap labor in their country can't compete with China on manufacturing and he will tell you they don't have a strong enough government to sponsor basic research, build power plants and reach trade agreements (manipulate the currency as its called). City states these days don't have militaries but if Vegas did have a military it would be a very popular form of employment. Anyone not wanting to increase the size of the military would need to provide substitute jobs.
Next thing to notice is the main service is gambling. From the casinos to a housing market full to the brim with speculation, Vegas is a carnival of house always wins style games. Any game that might be beaten with intelligence has long since been replaced with a dumbed down equivalent requiring at most street smarts. Here in a strange way endpoint capitalism is very equalitarian; differences in income are encouraged and accomodated but differences in education and intelligence are not tolerated. We stopped in one store and bought a $10 pair of sandals (very stylish - everything in Vegas has great style) and in the store next door we enquired the price of an alligator skin handbag, $20,500 the saleperson told us cheerfully.
This is an important point for Obama. Vegas is designed to make a poor sap feel rich and a rich guy feel like an emperor. But the poor guy does not feel slighted by the rich; they play somewhat the same games, have the same educational backgrounds, cultural tastes and perceived level of intelligence. When Obama is accused of being elitist or having the wrong associations its not that he goes to a country club or is part of a criminal gang - he's being accused of being smart and having a different culture. Vegas goes to great lengths to present a global culture with all culturally different than average America edges smoothed - French food but no French waiters, deli workers with attitude but no where near the attitude of a real New York deli, artsy Cirque de Soleil dishing out Beatle's love and Zumanity sex, Italian singing without real opera, broadway but no off-broadway and only Europe, Australia and countries bordering the Mediterranean are represented (not that these corporations are in anyway Euro-centric themselves - see their enormous Macau investment).
While most American's will agree that living in Vegas-America is too extreme, Obama's challenge is that different factions want to tackle a different head of the Hydra. Many object to the overly sex-charged atmosphere of Vegas as, nice to visit, but impossible to live with day in and day out. Everywhere are messages, billboards, pictures, moving billboards on the strip, voice over piped into the elevator in Eiffel, reminding you in lude terms of the new slogan that, "Everything is sexier in Vegas." Immigrant looking men line the strips passing out pictures of women for sale. Sex clubs advertise all over, adult pools, shows and Asian night clubs where there's, "Always a happy ending."
Others might say that the government shouldn't be restricting sex for sale and the real problem is the environment. A better planned Vegas would replace the strip with a subway system and make that road central park like instead of invariably forcing everyone out to Zion or Bryce National Park after a day or two of nature starvation.
Still others will point to the lack of education as the problem in Vegas. The only classes offered are instruction in blackjack and poker. And others the lack of religion (again the strip is outside of Las Vegas proper which I'm sure has plenty of places of worship).
The fact is that Vegas-America is very easy to organize. Elect most any average greed-monger and you will get a continued push in the short term profits direction (I'm not implying that McCain is an average greed-monger - Keating Five alone breaks him out of average). When Obama talks about change it has to come down to a break from Vegas-America style government. But its up to liberals and libertarians to recognize that you can't keep the sex for sale and open borders at the same time as you try to build a real self-sustaining community. And unfortunately you can't expect all results in 4 or even 8 years. Obama will have to start a number of long range plans that will require more like a decade - electric cars, education, reducing the military - none of these happen over night. The only thing we can hold him accountable for short term is ending the war.
Its the long range nature of these plans that making kick starting them from this election vitally important. If we step off on the wrong foot now then we will be another 4 to 8 years on the wrong path - putting into question even the survival of American like life style. Many of the casinos along the strip are modeled after edifices built at the height of power of the super rich and greedy - castles, pyramids, Venice (houses of the merchants), pirates, Caesars Palace. This election is about stopping Vegas-America before our whole country becomes dead to all but the tourists.