Years ago, I wrote a play about Thomas B. Reed, Republican of Maine, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in the 1890's. One of Reed's associates once described him by saying he had the "strongest intellect crossed on the best courage of any man in public life." Another associate, describing that powerful intellect, wrote: "Sometimes he rubs the skin off, sometimes he cuts to the bone, and sometimes he crushes in a skull as though it were an eggshell." All in all, a colorful figure.
Reed once remarked that, "Incorporated man has the courage sublime to put Unincorporated man to shame. Unincorporated man is satisfied to be paid once. How many payments would satisfy incorporated man, human experience has yet to decide."
Life and the marketplace have afforded many opportunities to observe the wisdom of this aphorism. Most recently, the Service Department at my Saturn dealer instructed me on corporate greed.
Over the last two years, I have spent about $3500 on car repairs. Given that I had bought the Saturn for reasons of economy, I was growing impatient with the steady assault on my pocketbook.
At the beginning of August, I took the car in because the air conditioner was working only on the freeway. After an hour, the service specialist gave me a list of things the car needed done - new struts, new coolant hoses, a windshield washer motor, etc. totalling at least $1200. The air conditioner, awaiting diagnosis, would be more, of course. Perhaps a lot more.
Fortunately, it was too late in the day to get on with all that, so I drove home. They expected me on the following morning.
The following morning, I went over to Strickly Ray's, the neighborhood mechanic. At the end of the day, Ray told me that the hoses have tens of thousands of miles more life left - and that there is no problem with the struts.
No charge. (He didn't have time to diagnose the air conditioner.)
Incorporated man has numbers to reach and quotas to fill. Unincorporated man is a free agent. Incorporated man looks upon customers as a means to an end. Unincorporated man looks upon the customer as a fellow free agent - an end in him/herself.
Democrats may be as forthright as Republicans in their social relationships. But can those who believe in a closed shop bring the same integrity to the marketplace? Is it not true that their many schemes to engineer a perfectly just society require the incorporation of us all? What happens to Ray Strick in that perfect world?
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
A Winnable War
(This was written at the end of September 2004)
Al Qaeda recruitment must be up. The President sounded downbeat, opining that the War Against Terror is unwinnable; that containment is the best we can hope for. I feel his pain. But the war is winnable.
This war, fundamentally, is all about Legitimacy. Terrorists take no responsibility to govern territory. Though Islamic terrorists may distribute alms to the poor - as a religious duty - that hardly constitutes taking up the full responsibility of governing. To set up shop, they need a failing state, a stretch of earth teeming with potential recruits.
When it became apparent that Pakistan had become a haven for al-Qaeda, the Bush Adminstration quickly forgave billions of dollars of debt and ended trade sanctions. Afghanistan, a total basket case teeming with terrorists, became the subject of an international donor's conference. A Democratic administration, certainly, would have implemented the same policies. Under the present (essentially anarchic) system of competing nation-states, the best hope for a failed state is to get on the list of "havens for terrorists."
Three out of every ten human beings goes to bed hungry at night. 90% of humanity must eke out an existence in bribery economies - failed or failing states. They are desperate and under the present system, terrorism pays. No wonder bin Laden is a hero to millions, perhaps a billion people worldwide. The Islamic fundamentalists, led by the Jihadists, hold a trump card given to them by the G8, a vast and growing gap between the developed and developing world.
The Nation-State has served its historical purpose. Humanity cannot stand still. We can either go back to the days of competing patriarchal theocracies or forward to an elected, representative and sovereign United Nations.
Here in the United States, President Bush is touted as a decisive leader. A great number of people do not care whether those firm decisions are also wise. There is a reason for that indifference. A big chunk of the Republican base are evangelical Christians - people who were disappointed when Y2K failed to bring on the Rapture. They pray for a Day of Judgment. Prod them on Iraq, point out the lies and manipulations, and they remain unruffled. It is Prophecy, they say: Armageddon. To them, President Bush is a divine instrument. They do not care whether American credibility is obliterated overseas. They do not care how many foreign countries are turned into playgrounds for terrorists. It is Prophecy. America is the instrument of divine retribution. And, since the Day of Judgment is coming, they are indifferent about the multi-trillions of dollars of debt this administration has racked up. It is an investment in death, part of God's plan to destroy the world.
(Less robust souls seem to buy into the deficit as a form of suicide. It is almost as if the Administration has cut a psychic deal with bin Laden: "If we commit suicide, will you promise not to attack us? Pretty please!")
This death wish, to a certain degree, is shared by at least 23% of the rest of us. In a starving world, nearly one quarter of the American population is clinically obese. Adolescent boys today consume nearly four times as much soda pop as my generation. Girls don't drink milk. Schools around the country have prostituted themselves to the fast food and soft drink industries. Imagine the number of diabetics there will be two decades from now.
Bush Republicans don't care about unfunded entitlements. Bush Republicans don't care about Halliburton raiding the Treasury. They don't care because the future is unreachable - just as the War on Terror is unwinnable. They just want to be the last to die, so they invest their tax rebates on panic rooms in walled, gated communities.
A fundamental reality of Capitalism - price-factor equalization (manifested as 'out-sourcing') exacerbates the terrorist crisis. Californians want to keep the Punjabis, Bengalis and other Indians out of Silicon Valley. They want to keep Hewlett Packard out of Bangalore. Will this solve the problem? Of course not. Capitalism will always find the most willing, able, productive, and profitable hands. Today, those hands are in China and India. If HP fails to put those hands to work, someone else will. Do the technology workers of the developed West expect their counterparts in the developing East to politely starve?
American credibility in the Middle East has been eroding ever since the CIA installed the Shah in Iran five decades ago. The present Administration has utterly blown whatever little credibility remained. It is ironic that people calling themselves conservatives have nailed us into this coffin. Traditional conservatism postulates that tax-averse citizens, by their stinginess, limit the capacity of Government to implement foolish policies. They once understood, better than liberals, that our power far exceeds our wisdom. How ironic that those old-fashioned xenophobic isolationists are the ones who would have prevented us from discrediting ourselves abroad by denying us the means of prosecuting foreign adventures. No future administration will ever restore the credibility they would never have lost.
So - the factors determing whether the War on Terror is winnable are:
1. The Nation-State system is only as good as its weakest link. Thus, it has failed.
2. Structural deficits and high tolerance of cognitive dissonance is evidence that the United States is in a self-destructive swoon.
3. American military power vastly exceeds the wisdom of the Electorate, resulting in the final erosion of American credibility - the rock on which postwar security has been based.
4. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the greed of weapons manufacturers worldwide has brought about an unlimited supply of lethal weaponry.
5. Price/factor equalization is a tremendous opportunity for the developing world.
6. Into the future, the entitlements programs of most developed countries are insolvent.
This mixture will ferment. The future is indeed perilous. Our stratetic margin of error narrows monthly.
There are two basic paths to a livable future. One is Fortress America. The other, its opposite, is Globalism, a forward strategy. I'm afraid we must choose.
Fortress America, in this new world, would be a constellation of ideas associated with Patrick Buchanan - Protectionism, Isolationism, and Nativism (anti-immigration policies). To that, I would add a Jeffersonian embargo - to demonstrate our sincerity to the Islamic World and other traditional societies. They are deeply offended (and destabilized) by the filth (movies, music, fashions, idolatry and pornography) we export. Imposing an embargo would demonstrate our sensitivity to the disruption we cause in traditional societies.
Historians generally agree that Jefferson's embargo failed. I disagree. It helped keep the United States neutral during the Napoleonic wars. (In fact, we were able to exploit Napoleon's desperate need for cash and purchase the enormous Louisiana Territory for 3 cents an acre!) It does not matter whether embargoes completely choke off all exports. It matters that we make a sincere effort to so choke. The world may be unstable for awhile as Europe and China take up the burden we have shouldered for half a century. But, both of those civilizations have taken up the responsibility of stabilizing their respective regions in the past. They have experience. They are mature civilizations. The world may well breathe a sigh of relief that America will no longer project our collective un-wisdom outward. And, the world market will no longer be a dumping ground for our excess capacity.
Fortress America, sensibly, accommodates the worries and fears of traditional societies. It is important to recall that we are not so removed from ignorance and misogyny. During the 19th Century, overworked women were often diagnosed with "neuralgia." One of the recommended treatments - a clitorectomy - is better known as female emasculation. Misogyny ran deep in our culture. In 1848, a court in New York state upheld the right of a clergyman to whip his wife once every month - essential to her "better instruction" according to his theology. So, we have little right to jump on our high horse and beat our breasts about the backwardness of the Islamic World.
Yet, that is precisely what I urge with the forward strategy - Globalism.
Mankind must now dump the Nation-State. That system, a liberating force during the 18th and 19th Centuries, is now a curse. While 1/3 of humanity goes to bed hungry, the populations of wealthy countries dispute silly, self-absorbed nonsense like gay marriage. While 90% of humanity must find a way to keep body and soul together in bribary economies, the populations of wealthy countries fret over their entitlements. Why are those 90% NOT entitled? Do you really think we are more beloved of God? Small wonder there is an endless supply of suicide bombers eager to die for bin Laden. Only an elected, representative, and sovereign United Nations - a necessary institution awaiting birth - can act legitimately to dry up that pool.
The Nation-State, morally, died on June 28, 1914. We are still squandering resources trying to revive the corpse. Nine decades of investment and what do have to show for it? World War I. World War II. Proxy wars in Korea and Vietnam. Genocide in Rwanda. Communal terror in the Holy Lands. Ethnic cleansing in the Balkans (again! right where the first shot was fired!). And now the transformation of Iraq into a terrorist playground.
Resuscitation has failed. The stinking, festering corpse of the Nation-State is spawning lethal maggots - bin Laden and his disciples. Incinerate the corpse and the maggots will die. Or, would you rather die with the corpse?
In my opinion, Fortress America would be more investment in resuscitation - throwing good money after bad.
When Tropical Storm Bonnie struck Florida, I predicted that 2004 would be the worst hurricane season in that state's history. I predicted that landfall for one of those hurricanes would be Palm Beach County. Instead, two hurricanes hit where the 2000 election was stolen. In September 2001, I predicted that for every year the world delays amending the Charter of the United Nations, there will be five years of war. By my reckoning, this war will last well into the third decade of this millenium.
Do not regret the end of the Nation-State, even our beloved United States of America. The Bible told us this day would come.
"All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity." Isaiah 40:17
Al Qaeda recruitment must be up. The President sounded downbeat, opining that the War Against Terror is unwinnable; that containment is the best we can hope for. I feel his pain. But the war is winnable.
This war, fundamentally, is all about Legitimacy. Terrorists take no responsibility to govern territory. Though Islamic terrorists may distribute alms to the poor - as a religious duty - that hardly constitutes taking up the full responsibility of governing. To set up shop, they need a failing state, a stretch of earth teeming with potential recruits.
When it became apparent that Pakistan had become a haven for al-Qaeda, the Bush Adminstration quickly forgave billions of dollars of debt and ended trade sanctions. Afghanistan, a total basket case teeming with terrorists, became the subject of an international donor's conference. A Democratic administration, certainly, would have implemented the same policies. Under the present (essentially anarchic) system of competing nation-states, the best hope for a failed state is to get on the list of "havens for terrorists."
Three out of every ten human beings goes to bed hungry at night. 90% of humanity must eke out an existence in bribery economies - failed or failing states. They are desperate and under the present system, terrorism pays. No wonder bin Laden is a hero to millions, perhaps a billion people worldwide. The Islamic fundamentalists, led by the Jihadists, hold a trump card given to them by the G8, a vast and growing gap between the developed and developing world.
The Nation-State has served its historical purpose. Humanity cannot stand still. We can either go back to the days of competing patriarchal theocracies or forward to an elected, representative and sovereign United Nations.
Here in the United States, President Bush is touted as a decisive leader. A great number of people do not care whether those firm decisions are also wise. There is a reason for that indifference. A big chunk of the Republican base are evangelical Christians - people who were disappointed when Y2K failed to bring on the Rapture. They pray for a Day of Judgment. Prod them on Iraq, point out the lies and manipulations, and they remain unruffled. It is Prophecy, they say: Armageddon. To them, President Bush is a divine instrument. They do not care whether American credibility is obliterated overseas. They do not care how many foreign countries are turned into playgrounds for terrorists. It is Prophecy. America is the instrument of divine retribution. And, since the Day of Judgment is coming, they are indifferent about the multi-trillions of dollars of debt this administration has racked up. It is an investment in death, part of God's plan to destroy the world.
(Less robust souls seem to buy into the deficit as a form of suicide. It is almost as if the Administration has cut a psychic deal with bin Laden: "If we commit suicide, will you promise not to attack us? Pretty please!")
This death wish, to a certain degree, is shared by at least 23% of the rest of us. In a starving world, nearly one quarter of the American population is clinically obese. Adolescent boys today consume nearly four times as much soda pop as my generation. Girls don't drink milk. Schools around the country have prostituted themselves to the fast food and soft drink industries. Imagine the number of diabetics there will be two decades from now.
Bush Republicans don't care about unfunded entitlements. Bush Republicans don't care about Halliburton raiding the Treasury. They don't care because the future is unreachable - just as the War on Terror is unwinnable. They just want to be the last to die, so they invest their tax rebates on panic rooms in walled, gated communities.
A fundamental reality of Capitalism - price-factor equalization (manifested as 'out-sourcing') exacerbates the terrorist crisis. Californians want to keep the Punjabis, Bengalis and other Indians out of Silicon Valley. They want to keep Hewlett Packard out of Bangalore. Will this solve the problem? Of course not. Capitalism will always find the most willing, able, productive, and profitable hands. Today, those hands are in China and India. If HP fails to put those hands to work, someone else will. Do the technology workers of the developed West expect their counterparts in the developing East to politely starve?
American credibility in the Middle East has been eroding ever since the CIA installed the Shah in Iran five decades ago. The present Administration has utterly blown whatever little credibility remained. It is ironic that people calling themselves conservatives have nailed us into this coffin. Traditional conservatism postulates that tax-averse citizens, by their stinginess, limit the capacity of Government to implement foolish policies. They once understood, better than liberals, that our power far exceeds our wisdom. How ironic that those old-fashioned xenophobic isolationists are the ones who would have prevented us from discrediting ourselves abroad by denying us the means of prosecuting foreign adventures. No future administration will ever restore the credibility they would never have lost.
So - the factors determing whether the War on Terror is winnable are:
1. The Nation-State system is only as good as its weakest link. Thus, it has failed.
2. Structural deficits and high tolerance of cognitive dissonance is evidence that the United States is in a self-destructive swoon.
3. American military power vastly exceeds the wisdom of the Electorate, resulting in the final erosion of American credibility - the rock on which postwar security has been based.
4. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the greed of weapons manufacturers worldwide has brought about an unlimited supply of lethal weaponry.
5. Price/factor equalization is a tremendous opportunity for the developing world.
6. Into the future, the entitlements programs of most developed countries are insolvent.
This mixture will ferment. The future is indeed perilous. Our stratetic margin of error narrows monthly.
There are two basic paths to a livable future. One is Fortress America. The other, its opposite, is Globalism, a forward strategy. I'm afraid we must choose.
Fortress America, in this new world, would be a constellation of ideas associated with Patrick Buchanan - Protectionism, Isolationism, and Nativism (anti-immigration policies). To that, I would add a Jeffersonian embargo - to demonstrate our sincerity to the Islamic World and other traditional societies. They are deeply offended (and destabilized) by the filth (movies, music, fashions, idolatry and pornography) we export. Imposing an embargo would demonstrate our sensitivity to the disruption we cause in traditional societies.
Historians generally agree that Jefferson's embargo failed. I disagree. It helped keep the United States neutral during the Napoleonic wars. (In fact, we were able to exploit Napoleon's desperate need for cash and purchase the enormous Louisiana Territory for 3 cents an acre!) It does not matter whether embargoes completely choke off all exports. It matters that we make a sincere effort to so choke. The world may be unstable for awhile as Europe and China take up the burden we have shouldered for half a century. But, both of those civilizations have taken up the responsibility of stabilizing their respective regions in the past. They have experience. They are mature civilizations. The world may well breathe a sigh of relief that America will no longer project our collective un-wisdom outward. And, the world market will no longer be a dumping ground for our excess capacity.
Fortress America, sensibly, accommodates the worries and fears of traditional societies. It is important to recall that we are not so removed from ignorance and misogyny. During the 19th Century, overworked women were often diagnosed with "neuralgia." One of the recommended treatments - a clitorectomy - is better known as female emasculation. Misogyny ran deep in our culture. In 1848, a court in New York state upheld the right of a clergyman to whip his wife once every month - essential to her "better instruction" according to his theology. So, we have little right to jump on our high horse and beat our breasts about the backwardness of the Islamic World.
Yet, that is precisely what I urge with the forward strategy - Globalism.
Mankind must now dump the Nation-State. That system, a liberating force during the 18th and 19th Centuries, is now a curse. While 1/3 of humanity goes to bed hungry, the populations of wealthy countries dispute silly, self-absorbed nonsense like gay marriage. While 90% of humanity must find a way to keep body and soul together in bribary economies, the populations of wealthy countries fret over their entitlements. Why are those 90% NOT entitled? Do you really think we are more beloved of God? Small wonder there is an endless supply of suicide bombers eager to die for bin Laden. Only an elected, representative, and sovereign United Nations - a necessary institution awaiting birth - can act legitimately to dry up that pool.
The Nation-State, morally, died on June 28, 1914. We are still squandering resources trying to revive the corpse. Nine decades of investment and what do have to show for it? World War I. World War II. Proxy wars in Korea and Vietnam. Genocide in Rwanda. Communal terror in the Holy Lands. Ethnic cleansing in the Balkans (again! right where the first shot was fired!). And now the transformation of Iraq into a terrorist playground.
Resuscitation has failed. The stinking, festering corpse of the Nation-State is spawning lethal maggots - bin Laden and his disciples. Incinerate the corpse and the maggots will die. Or, would you rather die with the corpse?
In my opinion, Fortress America would be more investment in resuscitation - throwing good money after bad.
When Tropical Storm Bonnie struck Florida, I predicted that 2004 would be the worst hurricane season in that state's history. I predicted that landfall for one of those hurricanes would be Palm Beach County. Instead, two hurricanes hit where the 2000 election was stolen. In September 2001, I predicted that for every year the world delays amending the Charter of the United Nations, there will be five years of war. By my reckoning, this war will last well into the third decade of this millenium.
Do not regret the end of the Nation-State, even our beloved United States of America. The Bible told us this day would come.
"All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity." Isaiah 40:17
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