"We're not going to have 500 years"

[winterbadger]

Thanks to selki for pointing out this article. There are some thigns I don't like about this guy, but I think he's about 99% correct in the observations he makes.

Comments

[snolan.livejournal.com]

He's dead on the money to lay the blame at the feet of the America people. The Bush cronies are making a big deal that Palestinians elected a terrorist government... how is that different than Isrealis or Americans? We keep electing terrorist governments.

I catch flack from people every time I point that out - but truth be told, bombing people to smithereens from bombers that they can't defend themselves from, and bombing everyone near a 'bad guy' is every bit as effective a form of terrorism as what happened on 9/11 or with suicide bombers on public busses. Hell - it's MORE effective, as there is a little less backlash. It is still terrorism. Terrorism is an idea, and we can no more effectively declare war on it than we can on love or drugs.

Baer is also correct that now we have opened Pandora's box and there is no easy way out. We are screwed either way, and the only people who are not screwed are the same people who get special case escape clauses all the time, the extremely wealthy and well connected. Neither Bush nor Cheney will give up their retirements, but you better bet you sweet bum most American's will have to.

I wholeheartedly hope Isreal does fine, but it is many decades past due the time for them to stand on their own. We should be giving them no military aid (by the way - all military aid our government "gives" other nations is basically a fleecing of the tax payer to give money to the rich weapons makers of the world, mostly right here in the U.S.). Isreal should be fine on it's own - and gee, if they have to talk to their neighbors a little and perhaps even compromise, how is this a bad thing?

The same is true for the United States. We've been the bully on the toy pile since the end of World War II. That will NOT last. Probably not for another 50 years let alone 400... It is inevitable that other nations and cultures will catch up and perhaps even pass us by... we'll be forced to talk to our neighbors too, rather than dictate our terms to them unilaterally.

For a brief window in time we had an opportunity, and at least a very strong minority of people supporting a world leadership policy rather than a world domination policy, but that is all thrown out the window now. Mostly with Reagan first, but now with Bush II for sure.

We still have an opportunity to use the oil that remains to build an oil-free infrastructure, boot-strapping us out of dependence on fossil fuels - but we will squander that too. The American people keep voting to squander it, and they vote not only at the polls; but also in their choices of vehicles, and how they treat each other and "foreigners" and even their own families.

Sorry to be so cynical - but I can't see this any other way (though the optimist in me keeps trying).

[winterbadger]

Amen. :-(