We need to stabilize Iraq by creating a strong central government. The way to do that is to give the people a stake in its survival. One way to do that would be to nationalize the oil industry and give every Iraqi citizen a share of it. Literally. Issue shares of it to everyone who can prove their citizenship. That would give every Iraqi, regardless of tribe or religion, a shared bond and a stake in some badly needed common ground.
The way to attack the insurgency in Iraq is to create jobs. Give the Iraqis something constructive to do and give them a stake in rebuilding their own country. Let’s start by letting the Iraqis build our embassy. We bombed them, for Pete’s sake, it’s the least we can do.
The Democrats need to start citing the Marshall Plan openly as one example of how to handle Iraq correctly. Of course because this has been bungled so badly, for so long, and so much damage has already been done to the entire region, that we cannot succeed without including Iraq’s neighbors in more active and constructive roles.
Of course, in order to get behind this plan, DLC Democrats like Hillary are going to have to abandon the corporatist meme and acknowledge the fact that some socialism can be positive and productive, especially when rebuilding a broken economy.
Once one escapes the conservative, corporatist meme, it opens up all sorts of possibilities to benefit America. It is simple common business sense; any costs that the government can subsidize will give businesses in that country a competitive advantage. Want to help revitalize GM? Institute Nationalized Healthcare! Gm has more healthcare cost in their cars then cost of Steel. Want to rebuild the American manufacturing base? Reinstitute Import Tariffs! There is no reason that China should be allowed to put 30% import tariffs on our products but we can’t even put a 5% tariff on theirs.
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