And so ladies and gentlemen the
Congressional Circus has finally left town but they’ll be back soon with
another theatrical presentation of ‘We only fight for the rights of those who
fund our campaigns, we couldn’t care less about the rest of you slobs!”
That is the reality we’re facing
right now.
And how did things get this out
of control? We got caught up in the Washington dog and pony show while the
corporate crooks and military industrial complex ransacked the economy, started
two unnecessary wars and corrupted Wall Street.
And just so you know; if you’re a
liberal it’s the conservative fault! And if you’re a conservative it’s the liberals
fault!
As a long time Radical Moderate I
can understand what both liberals and conservatives want and the reasons they
want it. The conservative want a balanced budget, they want this country to
stop living beyond its means and stop wasting taxpayer money. They are not a
gaggle of Snidely Whiplashes looking to throw grandma and Polly Pureheart out
on the street, they want fiscal responsibility.
I can understand that.
And the Liberals want to make
sure that, while you are working, you are making a wage that can support your
family and make it possible to put something aside for retirement. They want a
benefit program at retirement age that will provide enough money to get by and
health care that won’t ransack their savings.
I can understand that too.
Regardless of your political
affiliations when Clinton left office we had a balanced budget. Then came 9/11
and everybody lost their minds. From then on it was all downhill.
The problem was we hadn’t really
thought 9/11 through. We declared war on Afghanistan but Ben Laden was a
terrorist. He had no army, no navy, no air force, and no nuclear missiles with
which he could invade our country.
What he did have was a diabolical
plan. It cost him very little to carry it out and the results were far
reaching. While searching for him we spent trillions on the military, on
creating Homeland Security, on cyber warfare, on invading Iraq and as a result,
nearly bankrupted ourselves and almost brought about a second Great Depression.
And all that happened while Ben
Laden sat in his bedroom in PAKISTAN watching ‘The Price is Right.”
In the end we sent a Navy SEAL
team in and killed him. Didn’t need the new super-duper jets or new aircraft
carriers or armored tanks, just a few specially modified helicopters to stop
by, double tap and hit the road.
As a nation we need to stop
chanting U-S-A, U-S-A and pointing fingers at the other side. Stop and analyze
what got us into this mess and focus on what we need to do to get us out.
Here’s my suggestions and
remember, it’s just that, suggestions.
Cut military spending in half.
The military was created to protect this nation from foreign invaders. That’s it,
nothing more. Somehow over the years America’s military became the security guards
of corporate interests while pretending to be the world’s policeman. THIS HAS TO STOP! No one is going to invade us
because, as a nation, we have more guns in private hands that we have people.
If a foreign invader landed in Manhattan, they’d be wiped out by the time they
reached the Bronx.
If Exxon/Mobil needs their oil
fields protected, or Halliburton is worried about their oil leases, let them
hire their own military personal to fight bad guys and keep our military out of
it. Email the Hessians, it’s been a while and I’m sure they could use the work
Stop military exercises off the
coasts of Korea and China. All it accomplishes is resentment and continued
military buildup so let’s stop doing it. Maybe if we stopped showing off our
military might by parading our ships in and around everyone else’s backyard we
wouldn’t have so many nations hating our guts.
Keep our navy in and around the United States
where they belong.
And one last thing. Don’t fall
for that threatening nonsense that scares people into thinking that by cutting
military spending we are leaving our nation defenseless against our enemies. It’s
nothing more than propaganda. Large scale wars like WW1 and WW2 can’t happen
anymore. (At least not for very long once the nuclear missiles start flying) Enemy
troop ships planning a D-Day type invasion would be vaporized by nuclear tipped
missiles, large scale air force bombers would suffer the same fate as would all
the ten billion dollar each aircraft carriers we continue to build for no
apparent reason. The Nazis, Commies and Yellow Menace have marched into
history. Russia can’t afford a war, China doesn’t want one and the Arab nations
will eventually blow themselves up if we just leave them alone.
The real war is against the middle class.
Manufacturing jobs are still being
outsourced to the lowest bidder, Customer Service jobs will soon be replaced by
smaller versions of WATSON, the IBM computer that won on Jeopardy and the leaps
and bounds progress of 3D printers will eliminate assembly lines, building
construction and food preparation businesses.
And if you don’t know what a 3D
printer is, you’d better find out because it will have as big an effect on the
economy as the introduction of the computer in the 1980’ and 90’s.
As for what else you need to
start preparing for, come back soon and I’ll tell you.
