THE BOGUS ECONOMIST July 19, 2008
BUSHNESS AS USUAL
I've been trying to figure out the Bush/Cheney mindset for the last eight years. To label Cheney as Machiavelli and Bush as Alfred E. Newman seemed to explain it at first, but as we took troops away from a war with something to win (hearts and minds- Afghanistan) and sent them to a war we started because we might have something to lose (oil reserves- Iraq), I began to suspect I was being much too simplistic. I became totally convinced when Mr. Bush began to use the phrase "vital American interests."
Sure, most people understood that the most "vital" thing about the war was black and sticky, but when we killed Saddam's kids and finally hung their dad, a lot of Americans were ready to be convinced we were really after a democratic form of government in Iraq and the oil was going to pay us back for the billions we spent seeing that statue go down. As the war dragged on and our casualties went into the thousands and Iraqi civilians were getting mowed down by the hundred thousands, we got tired of waiting for the guys we were helping to stop shooting at us, even if they really meant to shoot each other.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney continued to lead the cheering section for the war, even after the stories of graft, corruption, "collateral damage," Abu Graib and general moral decay began appearing in the papers. Our leaders continued to say that we were sacrificing our troops to bring "democracy" to Iraq. They're still saying it after the democratically-elected president of Iraq said he wants us out.
The only answer I can find for this seemingly endless stupidity and cupidity is that Bush and Cheney are sincerely trying to bring their idea of democracy to Iraq. The problem is they don't have the faintest idea what it is.
The confusion between capitalism and democracy is almost as old as the country itself. The extermination of the Indian tribes, slavery and almost every war we fought could be traced to a desire to make people rich, not free. A by-product of this, of course, was to build a powerhouse of production and a people who believed money was a symbol of success, which, of course, it is. Eventually, money came to be THE symbol of success.
When the Soviet Union emerged as a threat, we didn't use the word "dictatorship" to describe it. The leaders of the USSR were just as much dictators as the German one had been. The word used to describe the Soviet threat wasn't their political system, but their economic one - communism. In other words, we were told not to be as worried about how the Russians were being governed as who owned their factories.
If you should ask a hundred Americans - even today - what the opposite of democracy is, I'd bet ninety-eight of them would reply, "Communism." Wrong. Russia could have a free election tomorrow and the Communist Party would win in a landslide. They'd have a democratic communism.
Bush and Cheney identify our country with the system that made them rich - capitalism. As capitalists, they realize that the more shares of stock you have, the more votes you get. This explains Cheney's response to a statemen that a majority of Americans oppose the war in Iraq. I'm sure you remember his answer: "So?" We see an extension of what Charles Wilson, CEO of General Motors and later Secretary of Defense, said more than fifty years ago - "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." America means business- to some, literally.
The only two explanations I can come up with for the attempted demolition of the Constitution in pursuit of oil, power and private profit (see Halliburton, Blackwater, etc.) is either Bush and Cheney are traitors to our country and should be brought to trial or they really honest-to-God don't understand what this country was intended to represent.
When you're raised in a penthouse, you don't understand the tenement. When you never have understood the concept of equality under the law, you don't strain yourself to enforce it. If the end justifies the means in business, why not make it national policy.
This new understanding doesn't mean I like either Mr. Bush or Mr.Cheney one little bit more than I used to. It just means I understand a little better why I dislike them as much as I do.
-30-
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
The Big Conspiracy
THE BOGUS ECONOMIST
July 12, 2008
The Big Conspiracy
I've always loved conspiracies. They're always so exciting and fraught with intrigue. The Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy, for instance, can be presented in so many different lights that we can see villains no matter where we look. The CIA is always good. Lyndon Johnson looks a little villainous. Castro, the Mob and the Miami Cubans come in for a share of suspicion and everyone has a great time and goes to bed convinced SOMEBODY HAD IT IN FOR JACK. It's pretty obvious Lee Harvey Owswald did, but the rest is just wheel-spinning, good old American conjecture.
The Iraq War Conspiracy was too simple. Bush was an idiot. Cheney was a power-mad fanatic, Rumsfeld was – Rumsfeld, and the Congress was too frightened of being thought guilty of original thinking to do any investigating on its own. This conspiracy idea barely lasted eight years before settling down to a dull pain in the butt of democracy. Now, frighteningly, the Bogus Economist has envisioned a scenario that, if it actually occurred, could keep us wondering for decades. I want to make it clear that I earnestly hope I'm so full of it my eyes turn brown, but I can't get the thought out of my mind.
When Barack Obama goes to Iraq, it will be an historic occasion to which the whole world will be tuned. For the first time in almost a decade, someone will be going to the Middle East to present something besides bombast and baloney. After the Bush era, millions of people may begin to get the idea that America stands for something besides Big Oil and Getting More. Furthermore, present and future enemies – who are convinced the U.S. is an enemy not only of Islam, but anyone and anything that differs from its own notion of the world as it should be, may be drawn into dialog.
Now look at a couple of troubling factors while Mr. Obama is getting ready to go to the Middle East:
1.Anyone with more intelligence than a doorknob knows there are those in this Administration who are after Iran's oil just as they were after Iraq's.
2.People who are betting on the Republicans to avoid an election disaster are also receiving weekly visitors with the permission of their doctors.. They are forbidden to have sharp objects, but can receive candy and flowers. They also cut out paper dolls.
With these in mind, what single event could turn the situation around, prep the American people for war and assure a Democratic defeat in November? How about this?
As Obama is addressing an Iraqi crowd, as he well might do, some semi-deranged nutcase tries to shoot him. Perhaps a bomb goes off. Panic ensues. The President makes a speech bewailing the attempt and broadly hints that it was Iran, not Iraq, behind the action. The fleet, which has been staging maneuvers in the Gulf, steams into position and begins preparations for military action. Vice-president Cheney gears up his propaganda machine, bringing Karl Rove back from Fox News, and, with the help of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and other non-combatant war buffs, stirs up the American people with a rehash of the Axis of Evil theory. Only people who understand the nature of bad people can save the United States from the Iranian Menace. This is no time for appeasement. This is the time for Republican leadership.
If anyone thinks no one in Washington is capable of something so rotten, think again. Recall the Bush primary campaign of 2000, where McCain, running strongly against Bush, was accused of having fathered an illegitimate black baby and of showing cowardice while in enemy hands. Remember Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm in combat, but was defeated for a Senate seat by a Republican who accused him of not showing sufficient patriotism. Who turned Swift Boat into a verb?
The long shadow of Richard Nixon is still present in White House halls. A little trick like this could be a piece of cake.
What happened to Mr. Obama would not be as important to the schemers as what could be done with the resultant rage of the American people. And nobody is capable of manipulating that rage better than the crew that has turned doublespeak into an art where it's bad to pay for things, but fine to borrow; where tax breaks for the wealthy are good for the economy, but better working conditions and better health benefits are inflationary.
This is what I meant when I wrote that I've never wanted more to be wrong. I don't like thinking like this. As someone who loves his country, I've seen what can happen when a bunch of tunnel-visioned would-be despots believe the end justifies the means. I don't think many of the people who have been active in despoiling our democracy are even aware of what they're doing. They probably think it's just part of doing business. It's a kind of Bottom Line.
I'm old enough to remember a group of gangsters who staged a fire in the German Reichstag which they blamed on communists, resulting in the rise of a strong leader who would put things right. I want my country to be better than that. I wish I could forget the stories about Weapons of Mass Destruction and an alliance between Saddam Hussein and Al Queda that got us into the longest war in our history. I wish I could believe again.
-30-
July 12, 2008
The Big Conspiracy
I've always loved conspiracies. They're always so exciting and fraught with intrigue. The Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy, for instance, can be presented in so many different lights that we can see villains no matter where we look. The CIA is always good. Lyndon Johnson looks a little villainous. Castro, the Mob and the Miami Cubans come in for a share of suspicion and everyone has a great time and goes to bed convinced SOMEBODY HAD IT IN FOR JACK. It's pretty obvious Lee Harvey Owswald did, but the rest is just wheel-spinning, good old American conjecture.
The Iraq War Conspiracy was too simple. Bush was an idiot. Cheney was a power-mad fanatic, Rumsfeld was – Rumsfeld, and the Congress was too frightened of being thought guilty of original thinking to do any investigating on its own. This conspiracy idea barely lasted eight years before settling down to a dull pain in the butt of democracy. Now, frighteningly, the Bogus Economist has envisioned a scenario that, if it actually occurred, could keep us wondering for decades. I want to make it clear that I earnestly hope I'm so full of it my eyes turn brown, but I can't get the thought out of my mind.
When Barack Obama goes to Iraq, it will be an historic occasion to which the whole world will be tuned. For the first time in almost a decade, someone will be going to the Middle East to present something besides bombast and baloney. After the Bush era, millions of people may begin to get the idea that America stands for something besides Big Oil and Getting More. Furthermore, present and future enemies – who are convinced the U.S. is an enemy not only of Islam, but anyone and anything that differs from its own notion of the world as it should be, may be drawn into dialog.
Now look at a couple of troubling factors while Mr. Obama is getting ready to go to the Middle East:
1.Anyone with more intelligence than a doorknob knows there are those in this Administration who are after Iran's oil just as they were after Iraq's.
2.People who are betting on the Republicans to avoid an election disaster are also receiving weekly visitors with the permission of their doctors.. They are forbidden to have sharp objects, but can receive candy and flowers. They also cut out paper dolls.
With these in mind, what single event could turn the situation around, prep the American people for war and assure a Democratic defeat in November? How about this?
As Obama is addressing an Iraqi crowd, as he well might do, some semi-deranged nutcase tries to shoot him. Perhaps a bomb goes off. Panic ensues. The President makes a speech bewailing the attempt and broadly hints that it was Iran, not Iraq, behind the action. The fleet, which has been staging maneuvers in the Gulf, steams into position and begins preparations for military action. Vice-president Cheney gears up his propaganda machine, bringing Karl Rove back from Fox News, and, with the help of Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and other non-combatant war buffs, stirs up the American people with a rehash of the Axis of Evil theory. Only people who understand the nature of bad people can save the United States from the Iranian Menace. This is no time for appeasement. This is the time for Republican leadership.
If anyone thinks no one in Washington is capable of something so rotten, think again. Recall the Bush primary campaign of 2000, where McCain, running strongly against Bush, was accused of having fathered an illegitimate black baby and of showing cowardice while in enemy hands. Remember Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm in combat, but was defeated for a Senate seat by a Republican who accused him of not showing sufficient patriotism. Who turned Swift Boat into a verb?
The long shadow of Richard Nixon is still present in White House halls. A little trick like this could be a piece of cake.
What happened to Mr. Obama would not be as important to the schemers as what could be done with the resultant rage of the American people. And nobody is capable of manipulating that rage better than the crew that has turned doublespeak into an art where it's bad to pay for things, but fine to borrow; where tax breaks for the wealthy are good for the economy, but better working conditions and better health benefits are inflationary.
This is what I meant when I wrote that I've never wanted more to be wrong. I don't like thinking like this. As someone who loves his country, I've seen what can happen when a bunch of tunnel-visioned would-be despots believe the end justifies the means. I don't think many of the people who have been active in despoiling our democracy are even aware of what they're doing. They probably think it's just part of doing business. It's a kind of Bottom Line.
I'm old enough to remember a group of gangsters who staged a fire in the German Reichstag which they blamed on communists, resulting in the rise of a strong leader who would put things right. I want my country to be better than that. I wish I could forget the stories about Weapons of Mass Destruction and an alliance between Saddam Hussein and Al Queda that got us into the longest war in our history. I wish I could believe again.
-30-
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