All the pundits admit that never has there been a more 'exciting race' for the US presidency. Indeed. From my European vantage point I believe excitement is not the operative adjective for this contest but rather 'globally critical'. At stake is the type of change possible only when a major fault line opens; status quo in America won't due.Status quo opts for more of the same rhetoric from the fear mongers who so easily focus the minds of the average American on 'terror' and 'evil' while avoiding the real subjects that can create the very SECURITY for citizens they proclaim.
What are these topics? Let me begin with what they are not: they are not waging wars against 'evil doers' in far off lands; they are not building massive war machines that cost countless dollars feeding 'fat cat' industrialists along with their clubby boards of directors; they are not creating endless layers of secret surveillance agencies to spy on mostly innocent citizens; they are not wiping out America's much touted 'inalienable rights' in the name of cheap witch hunts shown to yield little result at stopping the extremists.
These are the scare issues so brilliantly painted by those wielding power in today's White House and, alas, by the Republican candidates seeking its highest office in November. McCain and Romney (now removed from running but still a powerful voice) seem scripted by George Orwell himself. Reread Orwell's classic novel, 1984, to find the precise type of totalitarian fear mongering screeched by today's conservative American core. Sure world leaders must step up the hunt for known terrorists and their cells, but for heaven's sake get your friends and neighbors reading sane articles about the best methods and measures for doing this. There are institutes dedicated to research on the most effective means to build peace and security and intervening in crises and conflict.
One sure way to create security at home in the US, and abroad in tense, conflict prone hotspots, is to provide clean water, adequate food, basic education, access to diverse opinions (information), and democratic systems such as free and legal elections, rule of law, and human rights.
While the European Union and its member states are aware of the sometimes difficult call for flat out military intervention, they are light years ahead of the present US administration's maniac call for blood. Rather, the EU looks for complimentary means to make change. These fall under the aegis of development efforts to provide water, food, education, information, and the means to grow good governance that includes rule of law, human rights, transparency and inclusion. It doesn't mean that military means are ignored. It means that they are only part of a solution, and to be used as a last resort.
No Republican candidate will change the current isolationist, unilateral stance at aiming human and financial resources at military answers once in office. McCain has used the words Islam terrorist and extremist almost as if they were punctuation in every speech I've heard. Statecraft, diplomacy and multilateral discourse are foreign words in this Republican environment, whether conservative or moderate. The ability of the political and media machine to divert the argument from the real and pressing issues facing Americans is so absolute and overwhelming as to create the real terror for cooler heads and more disciplined thinkers. Americans seem so anesthetized by their good life that they are unable to see the earthquakes and tornados wrecking havoc on this once-strong American Dream. With their attention diverted by talk of Islam extremists, they continue to miss the cues about the economy ravaged by the war in Iraq, by the offensive in Afghanistan, by the greedy financial industry, by the corrupt corporate climate, and by the very government supporting it all.
It is astounding to think what wake up call the nation needs. The wasteful war, the dot com bubble, hedge fund crisis, housing market bust...none of the these signifiers seems to have actually moved the needle for change. Over half the nation still thinks that Republicans wrapped in the red, white and blue will protect them and their loved ones from the world beyond the coasts.
While I remain a supporter of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for President of the United States, I think the only way the Democrats can reach the White House in November is for these two maverick candidates in the American electoral firmament to unite now for real change. With Romney out of running the Republicans can galvanize their base early and strongly. Can senators Clinton and Barrack Obama rise above the melee to look towards the greater good of the country, and therefore the world by agreeing to team their considerable forces into one mighty plea for an end to the madness? Stranger things have happened.
It is astounding to think what wake up call the nation needs. The wasteful war, the dot com bubble, hedge fund crisis, housing market bust...none of the these signifiers seems to have actually moved the needle for change. Over half the nation still thinks that Republicans wrapped in the red, white and blue will protect them and their loved ones from the world beyond the coasts.
While I remain a supporter of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton for President of the United States, I think the only way the Democrats can reach the White House in November is for these two maverick candidates in the American electoral firmament to unite now for real change. With Romney out of running the Republicans can galvanize their base early and strongly. Can senators Clinton and Barrack Obama rise above the melee to look towards the greater good of the country, and therefore the world by agreeing to team their considerable forces into one mighty plea for an end to the madness? Stranger things have happened.
Note: If you're interested in a far wiser perspective than mine, please read:
Waving Goodbye to Hegemony, By PARAG KHANNA, Published in the New York Times Magazine: January 27, 2008
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