What we are in need of now is more wisdom than is being offered in the halls of our government or in the mainstream media.
Perpetual war threatens our country because both Democrats and Republicans refuse to put historical facts into proper perspective and lay them out before the American people. There is no way that we can build a useful national strategy for achieving peace and prosperity using as raw materials, ignorance, lies, fear, and disinformation.
911 was “blowback” due to policies of which the American public at large was never made aware and never understood. Their ignorance persists.
Our illegal attack of Iraq was a totally inappropriate response to 911 and resulted in the recruitment of a whole new generation of enemies. Reading correctly how corrupt our government is and was, Osama bin Laden was able to accomplish his goal of retribution. At the same time, the corrupt leadership of the United States used 911 to accomplish their goals as well: the overthrow of the US Constitution in favor of what Paul Craig Roberts calls the “The Return of the Robber Barrons.”
The Bush policies, by creating a new army of insurgents and Al Qaeda recruits, used the threat of terrorism, (which they created out of nothing), to execute a strategy that will result in the impoverishment of the US middle class and the transfer of middle class wealth to the already wealthy elite among us. The result will be the destruction of what we once called the American Dream.
Every day that this reality goes unexamined and unexplained, the threat to the people of the United States increases. It may already be too late to reverse the dynamics now in play. Too many people might hate us now, forcing us to defend ourselves against attacks that our leaders orchestrated for their own purposes… purposes inspired by greed for undeserved wealth and power.
The transformation of the United States from a first world country to a failed state is well under way and perhaps close to complete when you consider the dynamics in play.
No one in government is suggesting a strategy that would reverse these dynamics.
In my view, the only strategy that will now reverse these dynamics must necessarily include the following four components:
- The American people would have to be properly informed as to the accurate historical context in which current events are now playing out.
- The American people would have to conclude that they want to repudiate the policies and behaviors that our government has pursued that have contributed and are contributing to the present state of affairs.
- The American people would have to take action to remove from power those individuals who planned, carried out, and facilitated these strategies, and hold them accountable in a way that would convince the world community that we seek forgiveness and intend for justice to be done. It would mean that the American people would have to acknowledge that other human beings on the planet are entitled to the same consideration, respect and dignity, and have the same claim to justice, that we claim for ourselves.
- The American people would have to acknowledge responsibility for, and restate their commitment to, the highest ideals expressed by our founding fathers, poets, and writers in such a way that the larger world community could be convinced of our sincerity and would therefore be willing to forgive us. Our commitment would have to be real and not a public relations ploy. For if we cannot now make friends with people we have grievously harmed, we will not have the allies we need to stop and then reverse the trend that now is moving us towards perpetual war, impoverishment, and destruction.
The question is, is it too late for these four things to happen? Do we actually believe that we will get away with all the crimes we have committed without paying the price? Do we really think we can fight our way to victory and at the same time survive as a constitutional democratic republic?
I don’t know the answers to these last few questions. They are not for me to answer. Each of us has to answer them for ourselves. Each of us has to take responsibility for the answer we come up with. But finally, the answer will come in the form of what we then do as a community.
In my opinion, all of the information we need to become properly educated and informed is now in the public domain. We only have to access it, talk about it, and come to an appropriate understanding if we want our children and grandchildren to ever live in peace and prosperity.
But we can only succeed if each of us recognizes that the part we ourselves play is crucial. If any of us thinks that what we (you and I) do doesn’t matter, the chance of success is greatly diminished.
