Let’s Call Bullshit on the “War on Terror”

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us-homeland-security-seal-plaque_m-747261 George W. Bush’s absurd “War on Terror” (WOT) is arguably the third or second (time will tell) largest scam ever pulled on the American people in the brief history of this wonderful and gigantic nation.  It’s time to put a stop to it.

Terror is a powerfully strong fear reaction to sudden, unexpected, life-threatening circumstances—an emotion, in other words.

Terror is what drove America’s wild over-reaction to to the bombing of the World Trade Center and led to the “Patriot Act” and the decimation of the Constitution and civil liberties and the balance of powers—and ultimately is playing a huge role in the falling apart of our System—financial and political.

Some guys from the Middle East stole some planes and provided the event.  America, led by cheerleaders from the already-on-the-verge right, provided the terror.  In Spades!

Khalil BendibHow fortunate that this occurred at a time when the previous excuse for the government to take all our tax dollars and give them  to the war profiteers, The Cold War, was seriously losing its punch.  And wasn’t it cool that good old Uncle Dick, was there to mentor his friend the President and take advantage of his simplistic world view and need to show Daddy, and to guide him into declaring war on an emotion! 

Better ‘n the Cold War on account of there’s no foreseeable end.  Ever!!!  And Cheney and his Warbux cronies declared free champagne and caviar in the Winners’ Circle Clubhouse, and the party’s still going strong.

Back in 2008, candidate Obama sent me a letter in response to my comments about retroactive telecom immunity and presidential abuse of power (he was my Senator) in which he explained that because of the superamazinggeewhiz importance of the WOT to our nation’s security and our children’s futures, we must be careful in reprimanding the excesses of [the obviously deranged] Mr. Bush, that we not tie the hands of a future [fabulously sane and upright Democratic] president—or something very much to that effect.

(That letter, incidentally is the reason I am careful to explain to friends that I did not vote for Obama in 2008.  It was only a matter of his name being next to the box the checking of which would be my best bet for voting No Effing Way McCain/Palin!)

And that’s the problem in a nutshell:  The President of the United States (and who knows how many members of Congress) believes that sending our young men and women to fight and kill and be killed in a foreign country is an effective way to fight an emotion!

If you want to “fight” terror, Mr. President, here’s how to do it:

  1. tsa_profiling Declare the WOT bogus and, as they say, walk the response to it all the way back.  That’s “all”, which means absolutely everything from “enemy combatants” because you say so, to the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA—and even governmental use of the word “homeland.” And “back”, which means gone, repealed, dismantled, erased from existence.
  2. Bring the troops home.  Now.  All of them.  Tell the Afghans and Pakistanis and Iraqis that if they’d like our non-military assistance in getting their acts together, we’ll be happy to sit down and explore ways that we can do that, but no assistance will involve the American military participation in combat or in aiding or assisting in combat.
  3. Open a national dialog on the subject of fear.  You’re a tremendous communicator.  It’s what you’re famous for, so do it.  For 65 years, the oligarchy that owns America (the people George Carlin referred to as our Owners) have used fear to reinforce their ownership and keep the money flowing from our hands into their pockets.  Let’s talk about that.  Let’s talk about how it happened and make an honest appraisal of where we are today as a result of that fear.  People fear what they don’t understand.  Let’s talk about it until we do understand.  And then let’s talk some more about what we can do to to set the country on a path to a real recovery—not just financial (although jobs would be a good place to start), but a recovery of national unity and spirit.
  4. Appoint a nonpartisan, professional-politician-free commission to examine the actions of the Bush administration and arm it with a special prosecutor to pursue prosecutions where applicable.  That particular past is one that we cannot afford to turn the page on.  Horrible crimes against humanity and against the US Constitution were committed in the name of “national security” and deregulation by the last administration (too many of which are being continued by yours) to simply turn the page and move on.  The Bush years presented America with an open wound which cannot be healed by the application of a Band-Aid.  It has infected the body politic and it will continue to fester under the surface until either it is excised in the light of day or its poisons take over our national bloodstream—unto death.
  5. Lead.  So far, your “economic recovery” has had very little to do with our economic recovery.  Wall Street is thriving(?).  Main Street, not so much.  Candidate Obama had some potentially very worthwhile ideas about turning things around:  a national jobs corps, investment in infrastructure, small business investment and support, reinventing mass transit, restoring real regulation to the financial industry,  investing heavily in education—mostly ideas that might have provided jobs and opportunities for real people.  Unfortunately, we’ll never know whether they would have worked or not, because when candidate Obama became President Obama, the first thing you did was sit down with the Republicans (who, in case you have forgotten, lost the 2008 election, big time) and present your proposals to them.  And when they said, “No, we wouldn’t like it if you did that.”, instead of taking names and kicking ass—going on TV and calling them out, saying “America, you elected me to fix this mess.  Here are the people who are now standing in the way of doing that.  Please replace them with people who are interested in fixing the mess we are in”, you responded to their “No” with an “Oh, OK.  What would you like me to do?”

A very incomplete list, to be sure, but I can’t help but believe that it would be a good start on getting our nation back on track.

Feel free to discuss, add your own items to the list, or argue against it in Comments.

Let’s Privatize Social Security Now

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sscards The libertarian right is all for privatizing Social Security and making it optional.  On the face of it, it’s an idea I could get behind in a big way. 

Of course, when talking about America and Social Security, you’ve got to begin by defining your terms. 

In the rest of the world “social security” (capitalized or not) refers to all government programs for the common welfare, from medical care to free public education, to unemployment insurance and retirement pension and all the way through to death benefits. 

In the United States, “Social Security” means the self- and employer-funded retirement fund that pays money for Grandma and Gramps to live on, and funds Medicare so they can have at least basic medical care as they age and need it more.

While privatizing using the American definition would undoubtedly please the libertarians no end, I can’t help but think that going with the world definition would send them into (quiet, restrained, lady- and gentleman-like) orgasms of delight. 

I say let’s make their wildest dreams come true and privatize the whole thing and make it all optional.

Let’s spin off not just Social Security/Medicare, but also health, education, and welfare into private, not-for-profit cooperatives, governed by a board of directors elected by and responsible to the membership at large and prohibited from making any speculative use of funds.  Then let’s make participation optional.

For the time being, the IRS will serve as the the collecting agency for the voluntary taxes paid by those who opt in.  We’ll see how that goes.  But that will be the only role of any Federal agency in the operation of the coop(s).

Rather than Congress dictating the budget and how the money is spent, those decisions will be made cooperatively, with Anything Really Important (including the “tax” rate) determined by a vote of the membership.

Lots of details to work out, but as I said, on the face of it, it looks damned good to me.

As for those who opt out?  Give them a check for what they’ve paid into Social Security to date, minus any benefits they’ve received.  Let them make their own decisions regarding providing for themselves and their families.  And to remove any punitive aspects from the decision making process, allow anyone outside a coop to buy (back) into it for the equivalent of  back taxes.  I’m sure that some libertarian entrepreneur will set up a private insurance company to protect against that eventuality. 

This plan achieves two very desirable goals:  1) It takes control of essential human services away from a Congress which over the last two years has demonstrated that it’s incapable even of tying its own shoes, and 2) It takes the money to run those services out of the U.S. Treasury, so that when our government ceases to function, there’s at least a chance that those services might continue.

Feel free to discuss.  I say we go for it.

Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off

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UPDATED BELOW

The American Civil War was about a whole lot more than slavery.  Civil_War

While the issue of slavery provided strong motivation for both the North and the South in the war of southern secession, at stake was what kind of nation the United States would be.

The northern industrialists wanted the entire “American” portion of the North American Continent to be one country in which Important Decisions were made for the whole country by one central (Federal) government composed of  representatives from each state. (Top Down)

The southern agriculturists wanted independence from America in order to form their own country in which Important Decisions would be made on the local (state) level, with a central  government whose authority required a unanimous agreement of all the autonomous Confederate(d) states.  (Bottom Up)

plantation-slaves Morally, the Good Guys won.  Slavery was a horrible institution which will forever be a blot on America’s history.  But from a practical point of view, it’s unfortunate that the winners weren’t also the guys who were advocating for a Confederacy. 

The story of America since that war—and particularly since WWII—has made it abundantly clear that the federal, top down, republic of Jefferson et al does not scale up well—certainly not to its current size, and most likely not even to the original thirteen states over time.

There are bunches o’ natural factors that determine the optimum number of people and the size of the geographic area that can be united behind a government empowered to make Important Decisions. In growing to fill all the available land mass, the USA has defiantly flown in the face of those natural laws, to the point where continuation in its present form is no longer sustainable.

As we watch America follow the same path of denial as the former Soviet Union, falling apart from the inside out, let’s remember that it’s within our power to stop it anytime we can amass the public will to do so.

It is within the power of the people to call a Constitutional Convention and start again from scratch.  It’s scary to contemplate, but it might be the only way to avert the bloodshed that’s otherwise inevitable. 

Are we adult enough yet as a culture to do that before the country falls apart completely?  Time will tell. 

For more information on the movement to call for Constitutional Convention, see http://www.callaconvention.org/, and read Lawrence Lessig’s “A Call for a Constitutional Convention” in Huffington Post.

UPDATE:  See also http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-lessig/neoprogressives_b_704715.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=090310&utm_medium=email&utm_content=FeatureMore#, and although I’m no huge fan of the Coffee Party http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/blog/entry/coffee-party-national-convention/.  And finally, thanks to reader Bill Walker for providing this link in comments:  http://www.foavc.org