The End of Insanity?

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Months ago, I wrote a post musing about whether those living in the moment recognize when their society has gone off the rails, or whether that only becomes clear in hindsight.

I may have used the old metaphor of a frog in water that heats slowly, or perhaps a marriage that grows ever worse incrementally. You never realize just how bad it was until you look back on it.

Is that how it is with American Empire? It started smoothly enough, at the outset of the 20th century. At some point, it became more difficult to control outcomes. But, no big deal. Take out a freely elected leader here; foment a coup there; prop up autocrats, well, everywhere.

Still, things were going swimmingly for America. Until Vietnam. But we learned from our mistake. Genocide is not such a good idea, but we shouldn’t entirely rule it out.

Then the oil shocks of the ’70s hit.

Wait, other countries are allowed to manufacture cars too?

And that coup we fomented in Iran in ’53 in order to install a bloody tyrant? The chickens came home to roost in ’79. Oh well. We don’t need Iran in our orbit.

And, besides, they’ll still buy our arms when we need illicit funds to help the contras.

Oh, but it’s morning again in America.

And just look, the Soviet Union is disintegrating.

Doesn’t last long, though. Kind of like when you were so sure that promotion would solve all those marital problems. Not so much.

Or like when the Romans had vanquished every civilization in sight.

Only to fall to the Huns and the Goths.

And Al Qaeda, if it had been around back then.

But it was around in 2001.

Guess it’s afternoon in America again.

And now Al Qaeda has an evil twin, ISIS.

Make that evening in America.

Oh ISIS. If we can just degrade and destroy ISIS, we’ll turn the corner. There will never be another groups like Al Qaeda or ISIS, ever, if we can just destroy ISIS.

And if we can just give the wealthy one more round of tax cuts, it really will start to trickle down.

And if we elect enough Democrats who are in the hip pocket of corporate America, they won’t be in the hip pocket of corporate America anymore.

And, yes, climate change in a problem, but we need to win this election, and this is a red state.

And she has to vote yes on half the pukey bills the Republicans introduce. Don’t you get it? It’s a tough district.

And things a really moving in the right direction on LGBT issues. That’s a great sign, right? After all, it’s the civil rights issue of the day. Maybe, except we’re not doing so well on the civil rights issue of yesterday. Cops are killing unarmed black kids.

I suppose things aren’t that bad. As long as you’re in the 3% of the population that holds nearly 60% of the wealth, as opposed to the 97% who have to share what’s left.

But, but, aren’t you “Ready for Hillary”?

No, sorry, I’m really not.

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19 thoughts on “The End of Insanity?”

  3. Let me just add…the Dow is at record highs…so that 401K is rolling along with gains not seen in forever. Under President Obama, Dow has gained over 10,000 points and seems to set record highs every week….under Bush, Dow lost 8,000 points and your 401K was worth next to nothing. Yet, Republicans think it would be a great idea to privatize SS so you can lose ALL your hard earned retirement money! How ’bout those Republican values! Yahoo!

    • Under Bush, one’s 401(k) became worthless and they had to cash in the last few bucks to live.

      Under Obama, there is no 401(k) because who can afford to save when working for much less money than during the Bush admin?

      Six of one, half dozen of the other. If Hillary Clinton could bring back the economy of the late nineties, I’d vote for her in a heartbeat.

  4. I consider myself a pragmatic progressive, which means I support the best likely progressive candidate in any race. So, in Tucson I support Betts Putnam-Hidalgo for TUSD school board, a stellar progressive. I also support Ron Barber, a moderate Democrat in a moderate district. For US President, I hope and pray that Hilary Clinton does decide to run, because I frankly believe that she is the only Democrat who can win in 2016. That said, I hope she picks either Elizabeth Warren or Martin O’Malley as her Vice President.

    • Frankly, I am terrified that Hillary Clinton WILL run for president because I don’t think we Republicans have anyone who can beat her. Actually, I don’t think we have anyone who could compete with a wet blanket at this point. The 2016 Presidential Election is 2 years away but I think it is going to be an interesting one.

  5. I think there is a small percentage of people that can see when a society is in decline. Most have their senses dulled with the “bread and circuses” and can’t, or won’t, see it. The Roman Empire had numerous doomsayers that called the warning, but they were ignored. Today we have numerous doomsayers from both the left and right offering opposite solutions to a decline that I think is an historic inevitability. We are no longer a people united by pride in America. For every person who finds things to take pride in America, there is another who can only find faults. For every person who cheers America’s successes, there is another who delights only when America stumbles. I think that is the major reason I am a Republican…

    • Steve, I hope you are not putting Bob in the category of one who “delights only when America stumbles.” Personally, I don’t know anyone like that. Is that what you believe Democrats think? That is black and white thinking. Please think about this. It’s not about cheerleaders vs. people who are thrilled with defeat. It’s about perspectives. What makes some people blind to failures? What makes some people see “America’s successes” as something less than?

      • I hate to say it, but when Democrats are out of power, some of them wait for errors, mistakes or failures to occur so they can leap up and point out how America is failing. Perhaps it is driven by politics, but it still unseemly behavior. I don’t think anyone is blind to the failures, but I do know that Many Democrats – when out of power – find ways to diminish the successes. Again, I want to believe it is simply politics, but it is still unseemly behavior by people who are vying for leadership.

        • “when Democrats are out of power, some of them wait for errors, mistakes or failures to occur so they can leap up and point out how America is failing.”

          What are you talking about? Politicians from the minority party pointing out the disastrous results of the policies of the majority party? You think that’s “unseemly”? If anything, there is not enough outrage. AZ Repubs balance the budget on the backs of kids and poor people. It is not “unseemly” to point out the devastating results of cuts to child welfare programs. It’s trying to get people to open their eyes so they can understand how we got here. The chickens came home to roost and someone damn well should say so. Although you can put out a list of reasonably debatable policy positions, your characterizations are pretty far out there.

    • Steve, you’re correct that decline is inevitable, but only for empires, not societies in general. A society like Sweeden or Switzerland could last indefinitley without decline. And this has nothing to do with people not being united by pride. Kevin Phillips (“American Theocracy”) and Pat Buchanan (“Where the Right Went Wrong” and “Day of Reckoning”) both have written about this, as have others. American Theocracy is the best I’ve read on the subject. What happens is that at some point an empire is forced to do things to sustain itself, and those things ultimately bring about the decline. Could America better manage the decline? Absolutely. Check out Patrick L. Smith’s “Time No Longer” on that point. But the decline, as you say, is inevitable. Ultimately, the rest of the world won’t sit idly by while a country with 4% of the world’s population consumes 25% of the world’s resources and arrogantly thumps its chest about how “exceptional” its people are compared to the rest of the world’s inhabitants.

      • That is a tough question to answer, Donna. I think the first thing we have to stop doing is sending our troops overseas to try and solve everyones problems for them. We can’t be the world’s police. All we accomplish is creating resentment and enemys, seeing our soldiers killed and maimed for little purpose and we exhaust our treasury when we really can’t afford it.

        Secondly, all of our governments need to cut back on their spending and pay off their debts. It is not healthy for us to depend on inflation to work our way out of debt. This is especially true for the federal government which seems to have no idea that there is a limit on how much you can spend.

        Third, we need to completely revamp our tax system to get rid of loopholes placed there to allow the rich and corporations to escape paying taxes. We also need to tax the wealthy at a higher, though not confiscatory, rate. The poor should pay little or nothing, if not receving rebates. The tax code should be kept simple.

        Fourth, we need to review ALL government programs looking for duplication of services or to see if it is even needed anymore. For example, the Tennessee Valley Authority finished its job more than 50 years ago, but it still exists. There are more than 32 similar meal programs for children administered by 32 different agencies. Why? This one of the reasons for the bloated bureaucracies. Once a program is established, it never goes away, even if it accomplishes what it was supposed to do.

        Fifth, establish a “loser pays” system for litigation cases. Right now, we constantly see ads on TV from shiester lawyers telling that if ANYTHING bad has happened to you, you should come and see them because, by annoying the insurance companies, they might get you a fat cash settlement. It should not be that easy to extort money out of another entity, expecially since those costs are recovered by higher insurance rates. If you want to sue, you have a right to sue; but if you lose, you pay all lawyers fees, court costs, etc.

        Sixth, We need to have genuine universal health care for all of our citizens. Obamacare has made some starts, but there is a way to go. We need to keep working on it. It’s important and necessary.

        Seventh, we need to re-evaluate how we deal with people arrested for pot charges. They should not be sent to prison clutter up and already huge prison population. We have to find another way of dealing with this class of prisoners.

        Eigth, we need to find out who runs the Federal Reserve and, if necessary, disband it. I believe it is run by corporate interests more than the Government, which is wrong. I base that on how the government waits with bated breath to hear what the Fed Chairman has to say. If the Goverment controlled it, as it should – after all it is OUR national currency – they would already know what was going to be said. I suspect if we truly knew what the Fed did, we would disband in a heartbeat and try something different. I think that is why they have never been audited.

        Ninth, we would have to work hard on developing tolerance for one another. Unlike Sweden or Switzerland, we are not a homogeneous society. We are made up of every culture that exists on the planet. That means it takes extra effort to learn to accept the cultural differences and still form America. This could well be the hardest task of all.

        Tenth, we would have to start developing an “American” identity, not Iyalian-American, Mexican-American, Japanese-American, etc. This would be important to begin developing into a society. In thinking about it again, THIS might be the hardest one to accomplish.

        There are probably another 20 or so things that would have to happen, but I am getting tired so I will settle for these 10. You notice I didn’t list education. That was deliberate because I don’t think education makes much difference in this process. That is probably because I don’t think much of education here in Arizona. And I don’t think that is because of a shortage of funding…I just think there is something wrong with the schools and the people who run them.

        • That was a thoughtful, honest reply to Donna’s question, Steve. Don’t look now, but you’re looking a bit like a Blue Dog Democrat…you’re DEFINITELY not the Republican you THINK you are!

          One the first question: We are the ONLY superpower left in the world. Bad or good, the entire world looks to America for help, meaning that we have more countries that are allies and trust us to be there for them in time of need. That said, THIS President is not the one sending troops in willy nilly to every single place with an issue! If Republicans had their way, sending other people’s children to die in foreign lands is their FIRST choice..and they keep the wars off the books to boot….so the American sheeple, um, people, get dooped into not knowing the real costs of their worldwide wars. You must be thrilled that President Obama has ended the war in Iraq and is just about finished ending the Afghan war…Republicans like to start wars, but they don’t like to pay for them, or take care of the veterans when they come home…too expensive and burdensome.

          http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/23/1301532/-Bernie-Sanders-to-GOP-If-it-s-too-expensive-to-care-for-our-veterans-don-t-send-them-to-war#

          On the Senate floor yesterday, Bernie Sanders destroyed Marco Rubio, who preposterously claimed to be a champion of improving veterans’ benefits.

          This is preposterous, of course, because Rubio is among 41 Republican Senators who blocked improving veterans’ benefits in February, a fact which inspired Sanders to say the following:

          Our AZ senators were in the hypocritical pack of 41.

          Secondly..and this one is a WHOPPER! You have no idea that the national debt and deficit has been more than cut in half, do you?
          In fact, you have no idea what party has increased the national debt the most over the years!

          http://jimcgreevy.com/gvdc/Natl_Debt_Chart.html

          And this is from Sept…it’s cut even MORE now.

          http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2014/sep/05/barack-obama/obama-says-he-has-cut-national-deficit-half/

          You want a responsible spender? Vote for a Democrat….

          http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/10/10/want-a-better-economy-history-says-vote-democrat/

          You want to cut govt waste? Agreed!

          http://www.whitehouse.gov/21stcenturygov/actions/21st-century-regulatory-system

          http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-09-03/news/bs-md-fed-save-20120828_1_federal-workers-money-saving-idea-responsible-federal-budget

          Now, on the other hand, Republicans shut down the govt and wasted $24 BILLION in taxpayer money. Add to that the 52+ repeal votes for Obamacare…and you get another approx. $55 million of waste. This doesn’t even include the stupid waste that Darrell Issa does daily, on his own, with bogus ” investigations”. Still…you’re a Republican. right?

          The rest of your list is pretty cool…the Fed thing is a bit weird, but whatever. It’s not going anywhere…despite the nutjob fearmongering.

          America is a huge melting pot..which is what makes us so special…people are assimilated into American life, but want to keep their native traditions and roots…there is nothing wrong with that, at all. It adds to the flavor and diversity that America is.

          I have to disagree on the education part though. Education is everything. Education, or lack of, is why people vote against their own best interests. Education is the key to mobility and options for a better life. Education, and seeing it as a vital part of our infrastructure, just like roads and bridges…because it is so necessary to a highly functioning, skilled citizenry…means everything! Access to great education for all is an economic issue…which is something that Fred DuVal understands and Ducey just sees as a money making proposition…cutting more education and not listening and following the will of AZ voters to fully fund education is what he said he intends to do. As an educator myself, we can have that debate another day…in the mean time, I hope you read this and question all the things you THOUGHT you knew. None of them, at least the ones listed, were true.

          • Bob, in my old age I have softened. I think that having employees whom I know and think of almost as family has had a lot to do with that. Economic realities put pressures on me to let people go, and I am tortured at the idea because I know them and I know their families. They aren’t just names on a roster, they are people to whom the loss of a job is a disaster. My Republican ideals don’t offer much in these situations.

            Additionally, you are some sort of Pied Piper luring me to the dark side. ;o)

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