colonel panic
There's no panic yet, actually, maybe because I don't think this message is getting heard. I saw this interview with the American academic and retired army colonel Andrew Bacevich last night, and wondered how his message would resonate in The Forvm, which seems to content to slavishly follow mainstream narratives. Discussions on the day to day minutia of campaign ads etc abound.
For something more than a little different, the transcript and video (50 min.) with Bacevich is here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08152008/watch.html
Here is the crux of his message:
I think there's a tendency on the part of policy makers and probably a tendency on the part of many Americans to think that the problems we face are problems that are out there somewhere, beyond our borders. And that if we can fix those problems, then we'll be able to continue the American way of life as it has long existed. I think it's fundamentally wrong. Our major problems are at home... We want to be able to pump gas into our cars regardless of how big they may happen to be, in order to be able to drive wherever we want to be able to drive. And we want to be able to do these things without having to think about whether or not the book's balanced at the end of the month, or the end of the fiscal year. And therefore, we want this unending line of credit.
Bacevich is a conservative, but the only president whom he has any kind words for is Jimmy Carter. Especially for his "malaise speech" of July 1979 wherein he warned the nation of the dangers of dependency on foreign oil and advised Americans to put on chunky sweaters and join car pools to cut back on oil consumption.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/filmmore/ps_crisis.html
The speech is quite prescient and worth a look. Unfortunately, Carter's initiative was immediately repudiated by the American people and within a few months, in January 1980 during the state of the union address, he announced the Carter Doctrine, which effectively annexed the Persian Gulf, and has led to many of today's entanglements.
Here's a little more of Bacevich on today's electioneering, and its irrelevance in addressing the growing militarism and creeping executive:
No. I mean, people run for the presidency in order to become imperial presidents. The people who are advising these candidates, the people who aspire to be the next national security advisor, the next secretary of defense, these are people who yearn to exercise those kind of great powers.
They're not running to see if they can make the Pentagon smaller. They're not. So when I - as a distant observer of politics - one of the things that both puzzles me and I think troubles me is the 24/7 coverage of the campaign.
Parsing every word, every phrase, that either Senator Obama or Senator McCain utters, as if what they say is going to reveal some profound and important change that was going to come about if they happened to be elected. It's not going to happen... it's not going to happen because the elements of continuity outweigh the elements of change. And it's not going to happen because, ultimately, we the American people, refuse to look in that mirror. And to see the extent to which the problems that we face really lie within.
We refuse to live within our means. We continue to think that the problems that beset the country are out there beyond our borders. And that if we deploy sufficient amount of American power we can fix those problems, and therefore things back here will continue as they have for decades.
--
Nothing resembles virtue more than a great crime. Saint-Just
--
Nothing resembles virtue more than a great crime. Saint-Just
- Micky Love's blog
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References -
If so, good one, Micky - I was slow in getting it.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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)nt
--Nothing resembles virtue more than a great crime. Saint-Just
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| parent )isn't a sunny day in the park, but it's still better by far than the BSOD or the Ring of Fire on an X-Box.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )Bacevich is no conservative, especially when he calls the U.S. military an "imperial army", and his anti-globalist rhetoric meshes well with Buchanan's pale retro reactionary AmCon. Sad, really.
Bacevich's comments are straight out of Moyer's socialist playbook, which I guess explains why Moyers likes Bacevich's book so much. And if you're thinking that Bacevich is praising Carter, read again. His praise was decidedly mixed because he was critical of the Carter Doctrine. That Bacevich thinks Carter's malaise speech as "powerful" tells me Bacevich is bordering on delusional. Carter: "It is a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will. We can see this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation." Ironic that Bacevich is a self-described conservative but supported Carter's massive governmental investment and intervention into energy, including import quotas and a windfall profits tax. Carter was right that we needed to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but his prescriptions were just one more reason why Reagan should've been president.
Bacevich is right about one thing, that Rumsfeld's doctrine of full spectrum dominance is a flawed and failed concept.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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)Bill Moyers is a socialist? That's another word you apparently don't understand. And BTW, exactly what did Reagan do to reduce dependence on foreign energy supplies? Nothing, that's what.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )'cause you got me: excessive hyperbole without a license and driving well in excess of 55 words per minute.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )but I guess I'm supposed to say I'll let you off with a warning this time.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )However--as the guy who gave the green light to the notorious "Daisy" Ad in the 1964 election, he is a scumbag--and I won't be eulogizing him if he keels over any time soon.
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| parent )was effective, short and it rolled out the right question to the country
--"Making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much." Ob
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| parent )I guess you never read Paul Craig Roberts on Counterpunch. This hard left organ is apparently the only outfit willing to print this guy's work - one Reagan's most important economic advisors.
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts08192008.html
--Nothing resembles virtue more than a great crime. Saint-Just
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| parent )When you're lauded by loonies like Lew Rockwell and Justin Raimondo, spending any time reading Roberts is a waste of time. He also gets a lot of play on VDARE, which is either racist or damn close, and Alex Jones, who is also in that arena. Funny how the extreme left and extreme right often converge.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )Roberts argues for tariffs and Bacevich says that America must look within to solve her problems. Quite similar in a way and certainly not lunatic. Marginal yes, but that only highlights just how narrow the band of discourse the mainstream allows. This is one of the problems. Given that, it's entirely predictable that those weird outlets offer a wider range of opinion.
--Nothing resembles virtue more than a great crime. Saint-Just
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| parent )"Don't make it ..."
Sorry BD, I tried, I really tried ... but it was just too tempting. Carry on ...
--I had discovered a great secret. That everyone loves themselves more than they love anybody else. And if I wanted them to love me, I better be like THEM!... Ken Nordine
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| parent )...a paleo-con oracle.
How weird is that?
--God help the while, a bad world I say.
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)Good message. I know nothing about the man. I do like voices from the margins, so there is nothing weird about this.
--Nothing resembles virtue more than a great crime. Saint-Just
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| parent )I'm pretty sure Bacevich is correct, but I'm not panicking. Maybe I've just mellowed after reaching the advanced age of 32, but my strong impression is that there's nothing any person or group can do to influence America's trajectory in any significant way. The American people are living exactly the way they want to live.
Modern liberalism is not so much a failure of intellect as a failure of humor. The proper response to absurdity is to laugh at it.
--The other day I heard that ignorance and apathy are sweeping the country. I didn't know that, but I don't really care.
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)sorry, I just always wanted to write that.
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| parent ).
--The other day I heard that ignorance and apathy are sweeping the country. I didn't know that, but I don't really care.
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| parent )Why so dour and long in the face, my esteemed Conservative colleagues? There are only two reactions one can have to the last seven years and the McCainiacs: mockery or laughter. Crying is pointless, I'm all cried out after thousands of pointless deaths and buckets full to brimming with lies poured out of the windows onto the hapless passers-by.
How can anyone take McCain seriously? I mean that, in all sincerity. He's a bad joke. This is a guy with a very serious gambling problem, an acknowledged zipper problem, a doddering idiot who flies around in other people's jets (having learned absolutely nothing from Keating 5), a Zig-Zag Wanderer careening from pillar to post all over the political landscape to the point his handlers have to take his cell phone away from him. What's his position today?
McCain's a Trophy Husband! I mean seriously, everyone thought Kerry was a wuss for marrying money, but if McCain didn't have all that Budweiser money in his wife's bank account, he'd be stuck in some condo in Georgetown. McCain hasn't done a legitimate day's worth of work without Uncle Sam signing his paycheck since his Dad paid him to mow his grandpappy the Admiral's lawn. At 72, he is a tired, petulant, dyspeptic old politico who should have gotten out of politics like Al Gore did.
...The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side,
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide,
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
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| parent )Nothing funny in that comment. Not even a good punchline.
But Jon Stewart is funny.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )Or half a dozen other Republicans with a clue. They do exist, you know. Hell, even Lindsey Graham, much as I dislike his politics, co-sponsored the bill I proposed for an H-Prize. Lindsey Graham actually has an energy plan. He's head and shoulders a better man than McCain.
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| parent )He is (or was until recently) a JAG in the reserves. I'm not sure why, but I can't stomach Hagel. He talks a lot, but he doesn't really say anything.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )I like the guy, I wonder if you could elaborate on your dislike. Hagel reminds me of a guy I served under, maybe I'm just projecting Col. G. onto Hagel. At any rate, Hagel's about to get out of politics, and the Republican Party will lose a good guy.
Graham is as good a Republican as I've seen in years. I said downstream he has a conscience, which makes him a distinct rarity in that Sodom-upon-Potomac. He should be given some real authority on energy policy, he's smart, he's tough and he's got the right stuff to make substantive changes.
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| parent )for its 1st '50+ year old single guy' President.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )He would have been the perfect opponent for Obama. He is a man with a conscience, and he did good work cleaning out that stench at Gitmo. He was a military prosecutor, and I think he's a good guy.
When I started in on this quixotic campaign for the H-Prize, I sent out an email with a proposal to every member of the House and Senate. His office was the first to respond, so I have a warm spot in my heart for him. AFAIK he's still working with the McCain campaign, but jeez, I sure wish the two were reversed and Lindsey Graham were running for POTUS.
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| parent )...so you can't talk about him like that.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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| parent )Ignoring the typo, that's just silly. There are a few here (if the shoe fits . . .) who slavishly follow anything that's nuttily counter-countercultural and reflexively critical of the country, but the majority by far of Forvmites are off looking at many different things from many angles, and focusing on stories that don't make the mainstream, and that others wouldn't even know about if they didn't read it here. People here can't even agree whether the mainstream media is biased in a liberal or conservative direction, so why would, say, a conservative poster who believes the MSM has a strong liberal bias slavishly follow what they say? In all, a superficial and naive statement by you.
You also seem to have missed that I and others have praised Carter's energy initiatives as the high point of his presidential stint, something that would have immeasurably improved our energy situation now if they had been followed back then. Read the whole Carter speech, look at the steps he called on Congress to take, check which ones Congress actually implemented (answer: none) and confirm who was running Congress when Carter was president.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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)This whole thing about whether the MSM is liberal or conservative is one of the cul de sacs that I would prefer to avoid.
I don't think either Bacevich or I would disagree with you about how Carter's initiative was spurned - by Congress and the public. That was the tragedy - too much too soon.
--Nothing resembles virtue more than a great crime. Saint-Just
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| parent )look at the steps he called on Congress to take, check which ones Congress actually implemented (answer: none)
Ever hear of the DOE?
Or the windfall profits tax?
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| parent )Taking the so-called "windfall profits" tax first, is that something you support, or that you think will in any conceivable way help with energy conservation or foreign oil dependence? If so, please explain. Not every tax is a good tax, no matter the Dems' fascination with them.
W/r/t the DOE, if you want to credit Carter with forming yet another government department, you need to point out what the DOE has done to reduce oil consumption and foreign oil dependence. You can start your futile search in the alternate energy area.
EDIT: Oops, I was wrong about the DOE: it's website says to close drapes and shutters on the south side of your house in the summer to reduce energy consumption. And whatever you do, don't inflate your shoes.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )Your initial claim was that the Dem Congress never implemented any of the points in Carters speech. You were completely wrong since the DOE and the windfall profits tax were implemented by the Dem Congress. However since you're unable to admit that you were wrong you respond with this. I'm sure you're quite willing to go on for 80 more posts trying to change the subject. A helpful piece of advice -- everyone makes mistakes and you look a lot less foolish by just admitting it rather than taking your usual obfuscatory tack.
P.S. If you want to debate whether or not the DOE or the windfall profits tax were good ideas or not that's a valid topic of discussion. But a separate one.
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| parent )the Republicans though understood like any good con man that the best way to fool someone is to tell them what they want to hear instead of the truth. So Carter get pummelled in the election. The lesson was not lost on other politicians which is why our energy policy has been so idiotic over the last 25 years.
I had some hopes for Obama but his endorsement of tapping the SPR has been a big disappointment. I still think he is a better choice than McCain with his silly drill now chant but he is far from ideal.
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)not being implemented? Sounds like it; if so, read the parts of his speech where he calls on Congress for enabling legislation and then explain the failure of the heavily Dem Congress to implement anything he asked for and said was critical to the country's future.
Blaming the Republicans for deceiving the public every time a Democrat doesn't get elected is so old and so banal, and so top-heavy with illogic, that it sinks itself. Did it ever occur to you that Carter lost reelection for the simple reason that voters didn't think he was an effective president?
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )you might want to check out what happened in the election of 1980. Here I'll save you the trouble. Reagan won and the Repubs also took control of the Senate.
Next homework assignment for ya. What happened to Carters energy policies after Reagan was elected? You did know that while not all of Carters proposals were implemented many were right?
Final assignment. Who promised "Morning in America"? Of course "Morning in America" required massive structural budget deficits to pay for it. I admit I was taken in by the Republican con game back then as well. I voted for Reagan twice and I was a solid Republican back then. Hindsight was 20/20 for me which is normal but it appears there are a some folks out there for which it's still 20/200.
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| parent )What did Carter's Dem Congress do to implement his energy policy? (His "call on Congress" didn't say or imply that the current Congress should do nothing until the November elections.) Then tell me what any of the many Dem majority congresses, or Clinton, have done since 1980 to implement a single of Carter's energy conservation mandates.
Not everything in the world is a partisan issue, and not everything wrong with the country is the fault of the Republicans. Sorry.
--In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
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| parent )regarding the DOE and the windfall profits tax and then reread what I said about other politicians noting what happened to Carter in 1980.
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| parent )Of all people, seems to agree:
"People ask how I can be a conservative and still want higher taxes. It makes my head spin, and I guess it shows how old I am. But I thought that conservatives were supposed to like balanced budgets. I thought it was the conservative position to not leave heavy indebtedness to our grandchildren. I thought it was the conservative view that there should be some balance between income and outflow. When did this change?
Oh, now, now, now I recall. It changed when we figured that we could cut taxes and generate so much revenue that we would balance the budget. But isn’t that what doctors call magical thinking? Haven’t the facts proved that this theory, though charming and beguiling, was wrong?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/business/yourmoney/26every.html
--They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...
-- General John B. Sedgwick, 1864
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)If Bush had asked the country to sacrifice after 9/11 we might have been able to address some of the problems Bacevich is talking about. Instead, Bush told us to go shopping.
The reason Carter didn't succeed is because the whole country has to be behind a shared sacrifice. If one party is promising "morning in America" and the other is promising sweaters in winter, then it really isn't going to matter much how right the sweater gang is. You can't sell sacrifice when the other party is selling the no sacrifice.
The last real chance we had for change was 9/11. It is sad that we won't get another chance for change until the country either has no choice or endures another tragedy.
--But she's a queen, and such are queens
that your laughter is sucked in their brains. -D. Bowie
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)The "Morning in America" theme was in 1984, when Reagan was running against Mondale, not 1980 against Carter.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )...not even trying.
I've always been more of a stay at home type of guy; take care of your home and everything else will fall into place.
I don't think we've done that....maybe for 20 odd or more years. I certainly mean infrastructure, roads and bridges, but I also mean investment in our human capital, our citizens in the United States.
I am always aware that it was the Great Society Programs of Lyndon Johnson that took this PSTD soldier just back from Viet Nam, put him to work at a low but decent salary...and made me into who I am today. CETA....Comprehensive Employment and Training Act is what it was.
The greatest thing since the invention of the Sandwich...in my opinion. Later it may have been corrupted but in the late 60's and early 70's it attempted to take all Americans and put them on the road to self sufficiency...we laugh at such ideas now and instead of trying to figure out how to help our neighbors, our society, we stress and strain on how to rape each other out of the last dime our neighbor has.
This has been a very sad transition for me....though I personally have done very well...I never forget it was the hope and humanism of that time that gave me my first leg up.
The Great Society tried to be Great...and there is nothing dishonorable in that striving.
More's the pity we gave up the effort.
Traveller
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)and went down to the unemployment office, looking for a two-bit job to tide me over. I remember the staffer asking me, "Are you a veteran?" I said, "Yeah, so what?", sort of defensively. "Oh", he said "you go this way, down that hall, you get preference."
I was floored. All sorts of training programs, lists of jobs, an actual veteran behind the desk. Got a sweet little job while I took a few more college classes, IT stuff to get current. It was the springboard to my consulting career.
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| parent )But the article is in part a critique of 'national greatness' conservativism, where there is supposed to be something dishonorable is striving for greatness via forcing our will on others.
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| parent )between killing people abroad and aiding people at home. The Great Society didn't force help on people, it offered it.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )wasn't it Lyndon Baines Johnson--architect of the Great Society--who was responsible for widening a conflict that killed people abroad?
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )how you can tie the Great Society policies to the Viet Nam war policies. I see them as unrelated, feel free to point out how one led to the other.
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )I'm not a big believer in compartmentalization.
--"I want America to know that I'm, like, totally ready to lead." -- Paris Hilton
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| parent )so I can blame Bush for everything that's happened in the past eight years, anything else would be "compartmentalization".
Even a horrible liberal like me wouldn't associate Bush's anti-abortion policy with his foreign policy (or any other pairing of two different and unrelated policies), but that's apparently the way to evaluate it according to you.
Did you really think this one through?
--I blame it all on the Internet
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| parent )and he paid for it and then we all paid for it again when Nixon was elected.
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )and it's interesting to see Traveller's defense of the Great Society.
Wasn't jordan just saying that Ds or liberals had learned their lesson more than BBR and others like him realized?
Always a pleasure to see that kind of thing challenged.
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| parent )Sunday morning, my Medic from Viet Nam called me out of the blue at 11:15am...talk about chills when I heard his name!
Well, a bunch of the old crew were together...asking me to catch a plane and wander up...they promised not to put a bullet in the top of my head, (a joke I didn't get...or was it because I beat on people so bad to keep down that they only place they should be shot was in the top of the head...but that was later in my war...this was early, damned if I know).
But they seemed to be drinking fairly early and that troubled me...as well as an assertion that I had to come to grips with my role in the War, ect.....Screw that, forgive my language.
I don't know...it was way back.
Best Wishes, Traveller
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| parent )it forced those who didn't need help to pay for those that did, and thus modern conservatism was born.
[/sarc]
--GW Bush, leading contender for worst President ever.
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| parent )...is always giving from one group to another. The collective security of the society is of inestimable worth and is given freely to those that already have, and have so much to lose.
They should pay more.
Taking and giving is always on a continumium...the US just errs on the side of naked individual greed as opposed to societal good.
My solution to virtually all the fiscal troubles besetting the United States is an across the board 25% death tax on all assets world wide...no bypass trusts, no nothing, no escaping death and taxes that come into perfect being at the same moment.
Traveller
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| parent )