It was suprisingly shameful that nary a mention was made about the involvement of 100k of our own sons and daughters in Operation Enduring Freedom during the media circus of the RNC convention. None. While our trainers are being shot in the back left and right by a few of the very same security forces that we are preparing to take over their own security in 2013, I heard no consideration being made for the welfare of deployed troops, returning troops, wounded warriors, or even veterans.
While its true that there are no candidates for the office of the presidency at the moment, and few, if any members of Congress have had any military service save a handful of reservists, that does not apply to our current commander in chief. President Obama is now a veteran of sorts himself, having had ultimate responsibility for the strategic intent and actions of our forces, their execution of said strategy, and their well being. And I don't believe it's time for a change of command just yet.
I lived through the Vietnam era and even participated as a very young man in the political process of dissent during the 1960s. I did not enlist until the end of that period and became an actual "Cold War Warrior" in more than one sense of the word. But I have never seen until recent history the recalcitrance of Congress to normal operations of government and the nearly complete lack of respect from elected and defacto leaders towards a sitting President. There is no such thing as "the loyal opposition" anymore in the current "War on Terror", which has now about to turn it's focus inwards instead of in distant lands.
The contrast today between the 1960s where a minority grew into a grassroots protest movement making life difficult for the administration then in power and turning the tide of public opinion into changes in policy and the present situation is one of a shift to an opposite political polarity. What implications does this have for our current government, besides a new inability to view ourselves as politically paralyzed by the radical right aligned with fundamentalist thinking ?
And as far as the world is concerned, it does have an improved opinion of the last 4 years of diplomatic progress we've made. But its now beginning to have serious doubts about our corporate corruption that nearly fatally infected Europe. International fears exist of a possible return to the bumbling of the Bush years, whose deregulatory philosophy and lack of enforcement fostered the great recession that rippled worldwide. Is it "deja vue all over again" ? A return to the 1950s in political insophistication and regressive social mores ?
The "sunshine patriot" who wraps himself in the flag is the most highly suspect villian in the new order of things since the 2010 midterm elections. Few politicians have had such a deleterious effect on the security of our nation from within, completely antithetical to the hysterical claims of infilitration by "communists and Muslims" as has been charged in the media.
"{Max} Blumenthal says that his book {Republican Gomorrah:Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party} is inspired by the work of psychologist Erich Fromm, who asserted that 'the fear of freedom propels anxiety-ridden people into authoritarian settings'. Blumenthal says (...) that in his view a 'culture of personal crisis' has defined the American 'radical right'. Blumenthal's conclusion in the 365 page book is that 'those who wrap themselves in the flag fear freedom the most' because of their own personal demons and insecurities, making them 'pathologically supportive of an authoritarian state' that can provide them with the 'emotional security of being a cog in a white Christian hierarchical machine.' (Wikipedia 25 August 2012) (NPR Reviewed 2009)
Individually, the Tea Party freshmen have been largely unqualifed and unproductive legislators. They simply band together in misguided shallow ideological common causes that may be as fiscal conservatives with blinders on, unable to understand or apply the basic economic principles or anything but trickle down theory or budget slashing, or as social conservatives attempting to roll us back before Roe v. Wade.
The instabilty created by recalcitrance has damaged our national security by the supposed sword of Damacles hanging over the defense budget, even though the cuts would be hardly more than 10-14 %, creating more claimed uncertainty in the defense industy. It has damaged our credit rating worldwide at a time when it is least desired. It has put our air, ground, rail, and sea travel at risk by inadequately funding infrastructure projects and refurbishing our air traffic control system in a timely fashion. It has prevented us from producing a comprehensive jobs act to put millions back to work now and in the future, which is one reason why the economists and others who keep calling for a WPA/CCC type of jobs program are ineffective because there is not the political will for such a well meaning initiative.
More over, the resistance to proven scientific facts of global climate change are delaying not only the repair, but also the preparation for what is needed for our economy to survive and flourish by adapting to such changes. Critical infrastructure is at risk such as energy, where power production and transmission limitations and cyclical storm damage threaten the national grid.
Athough the intense lobbying that was infecting our political system as witnessed by such notorious figures as Jack Abamhoff was always a reform touted as necessary by even conservatives such as Sen. McCain, that reform has grown impossible now due to the SCOTUS "Citizens United" decision.
What has happened since that fateful decision is that the elite corporate structure has developed its lobbying efforts into campaigns of mass distraction past even the Superpacs into the realm of "Dark Money" funding that is completely anonymous.
The problems of financing reelection, election of compliant corporate syncophants, and opposing anyone else who appears that they can't be bought has ballooned into a crisis that threatens the validity of our democratic system. The only countermeasure that will work now is to produce a Constitutional Amendment(s) in opposition to the power elites that have backed the American people into this corner. And strengthen the Civil Rights Act of 1965 section 5 to preempt voter suppression. Jim Crow has expanded his habitat to northern states in addition to his usual Southern haunts.
Hopefully the American people will come out fighting beginning on November 6th, or we'll be in a tailspin, not an economic recovery. This is no time for a change of command at the top, and now we know for certain from whom we need "to take the country back" from. And it's not the current administration. Its the 112th Congress.
The 1% has no qualms about hoarding their money and claiming indecision and uncertainty is to blame. They'll just collect the interest in the new "renters" economic system, which is no longer real capitalism. Fiscal conservatism will just continue the trend and tamp down any rise in demand. But it's "a demand economy, stupid", and you keep nailing the coffin shut on the American dream.
Illustrative Link of Plans to Fix the Economy Compared:
http://www.nextnewdeal.net/rortybomb/visual-guide-conflicting-theories-about-how-fix-economy
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