The following link of an in depth commentary by Robert Kagan, from the August 30 - 31, 2008, Wall Street Journal is very informative whether one agrees with all of it or none or if you sit somewhere in between. Kagan is very well informed and presents concisely.
(http://s.wsj.net/article/SB122005366593885103.html)
It is especially appropriate with Vice President Cheney traveling in the Caucasus and to the various "stans." In Georgia he is announcing a $1 billion dollar contribution for rebuilding after it was thrashed by Russia for attacking and entering the breakaway South Ossetia region.
I will dig into this further at a later date but I do suggest that the graphed data in the article is compelling
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Democrats and Republicans and bi - partisan blunders
In 1952, at 16 years of age, while working on a small farm in the Borscht Belt of upstate New York, I joined the farmer and his family in front of their TV set, watching large portions of both the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions. It was televisions first full time and elaborate convention coverage and the last time that multiple ballots were needed to select the nominee. Unlike today, going in there was no ruling primary system and hence no "presumptive nominee." The outcome of neither convention was locked in before they started.
In between haying, weeding strawberries and hilling potatoes we watched the contentious drama for hours. It was exciting and boring but it was estimated, both before and afterwards (by Popular Mechanics, the networks and Scientific American) that some 75 million Americans, watching on 16 million TV sets, would overcome the boredom and watch. It was further estimated that folks spent a total of 10 hours a piece watching the conventions.
This year I have watched none of the Democratic Convention, that attracted 40 million viewers for Senator Obama’s coronation speech, live, though I have watched a good number of the featured speakers on MSNBC video clips. After watching the speeches, using You Tube, I flashed back to other times checking out the campaigns of Hubert Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, LBJ, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, etc.. I compared their "performances" to the eloquence to Barack Obama’s and shuddered.
Mr. Obama, who had been selling "change you can believe in,"segued at the convention to "change we need," far outclassed his predecessors in his presentation of what he has stated he will deliver to the people of this country. However, other than allowing for the drift of events over time, he was very much in synch with the empty rhetoric of the past. So why did I shudder? Simply because the change he was selling has always been and will always be a mythical dream and he has sold the pig in a poke better and created more believers assured to be disappointed and who will look for somebody othr than temselves to blame.
There is no heaven on earth. Instead there is cold reality based upon human nature shaped and shifted by time. A realistic approach acknowledging the limits of what government can and cannot do is required for our nation to survive in a form that hews to it’s basic principles. Having the ability to convince millions of people that there is a way to willfully change the cards that have been dealt, by time and events, in search of the myth, leads to actions and legislation by the leaders that not only will fail to work but that always lead to unintended consequences that can be worse than the unrealistic intended gain. Just look at how the push to make purchasing a home available to those who simply could not afford it has devastated our financial systems over the last year.
Can this nation be better governed – no question, always. But we should not be embarking on a quest for the impossible, an expensive quest when we are all ready well overdrawn at the bank. Lowering taxes on the middle class and attempting to recoup the money from the rich is rhetoric. Adjusting taxes in a more equitable manner, what ever that is, always makes sense.
But nothing is as infuriating as knowing that ones earnings are being taken in taxes to pay for programs and costs for others, who are unable or unwilling to work at the same level of physical or mental stress that the over achievers accept.
Certainly we must realize that those who are unable to reach a bare minimum subsistence must be allowed for. However, public programs that are ostensibly inclined to propel those not inclined or equipped to share the full load, always tend to attract those looking for a way to thrive at no cost to themselves. Every system designed by man to ostensibly level the playing field based upon the idea that all will work shoulder to shoulder and equally carry the load has failed. Not because of those who simply were not up to it but always because of those who chose to get by doing the least.
Without bothering to compare the philosophy of the Soviet collectives, simply looking at the Israeli kibbutz and the 1970's communes of America, are example enough. These supposedly utopian arrangements, where all would pull together for the common good and equal return did not work as intended because people are people.
To me the Democratic rhetoric, as exquisitely presented by Mr. Obama, is really a dream for the entire body of the United States to be shaped into a mythical commune. Certainly many things in the public sector need attention. Our healthcare system and costs are overwhelming. Medicare works very well for the elderly, but that system, extended to the entire nation is beyond our means. Whether run by the government or the private markets delivering medical care for all, young and old, will be unsustainable if we continue the present form that seeks eternal life, for all, as a right.
Another army of teachers will not improve reading scores as much as "no child left behind" has. The desired end point is more closely tied to the family and individual motivation. Unfortunately how to deliver that elusive motivation is beyond governments capability and any government that thinks they can legislate that critical component leads it’s people down a yellow brick road.
After Mr. Obama’s performance I was very anxious to see Mr. McCain’s VP choice set for Friday. When it was announced I dug into the net to find out what was available concerning the background and experience of the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.
After reviewing the information I was aghast. With subsequent announcements the selection has proved closer to a soap opera then reality TV. A last minute, inadequately vetted candidate, who , no matter how well intended she is not in anyway qualified to serve as Vice President behind a 72 year old president.
So I continue to shudder. Both of the candidates leave me uneasy. Mr. Obama, unqualified except for raw intellect and great communication skills is promising what cannot be delivered and Mr. McCain making a very poor choice for his VP throwing into question his skills in deliberative and careful decision making. A capability that we desperately need in the White House.
In between haying, weeding strawberries and hilling potatoes we watched the contentious drama for hours. It was exciting and boring but it was estimated, both before and afterwards (by Popular Mechanics, the networks and Scientific American) that some 75 million Americans, watching on 16 million TV sets, would overcome the boredom and watch. It was further estimated that folks spent a total of 10 hours a piece watching the conventions.
This year I have watched none of the Democratic Convention, that attracted 40 million viewers for Senator Obama’s coronation speech, live, though I have watched a good number of the featured speakers on MSNBC video clips. After watching the speeches, using You Tube, I flashed back to other times checking out the campaigns of Hubert Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, LBJ, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, etc.. I compared their "performances" to the eloquence to Barack Obama’s and shuddered.
Mr. Obama, who had been selling "change you can believe in,"segued at the convention to "change we need," far outclassed his predecessors in his presentation of what he has stated he will deliver to the people of this country. However, other than allowing for the drift of events over time, he was very much in synch with the empty rhetoric of the past. So why did I shudder? Simply because the change he was selling has always been and will always be a mythical dream and he has sold the pig in a poke better and created more believers assured to be disappointed and who will look for somebody othr than temselves to blame.
There is no heaven on earth. Instead there is cold reality based upon human nature shaped and shifted by time. A realistic approach acknowledging the limits of what government can and cannot do is required for our nation to survive in a form that hews to it’s basic principles. Having the ability to convince millions of people that there is a way to willfully change the cards that have been dealt, by time and events, in search of the myth, leads to actions and legislation by the leaders that not only will fail to work but that always lead to unintended consequences that can be worse than the unrealistic intended gain. Just look at how the push to make purchasing a home available to those who simply could not afford it has devastated our financial systems over the last year.
Can this nation be better governed – no question, always. But we should not be embarking on a quest for the impossible, an expensive quest when we are all ready well overdrawn at the bank. Lowering taxes on the middle class and attempting to recoup the money from the rich is rhetoric. Adjusting taxes in a more equitable manner, what ever that is, always makes sense.
But nothing is as infuriating as knowing that ones earnings are being taken in taxes to pay for programs and costs for others, who are unable or unwilling to work at the same level of physical or mental stress that the over achievers accept.
Certainly we must realize that those who are unable to reach a bare minimum subsistence must be allowed for. However, public programs that are ostensibly inclined to propel those not inclined or equipped to share the full load, always tend to attract those looking for a way to thrive at no cost to themselves. Every system designed by man to ostensibly level the playing field based upon the idea that all will work shoulder to shoulder and equally carry the load has failed. Not because of those who simply were not up to it but always because of those who chose to get by doing the least.
Without bothering to compare the philosophy of the Soviet collectives, simply looking at the Israeli kibbutz and the 1970's communes of America, are example enough. These supposedly utopian arrangements, where all would pull together for the common good and equal return did not work as intended because people are people.
To me the Democratic rhetoric, as exquisitely presented by Mr. Obama, is really a dream for the entire body of the United States to be shaped into a mythical commune. Certainly many things in the public sector need attention. Our healthcare system and costs are overwhelming. Medicare works very well for the elderly, but that system, extended to the entire nation is beyond our means. Whether run by the government or the private markets delivering medical care for all, young and old, will be unsustainable if we continue the present form that seeks eternal life, for all, as a right.
Another army of teachers will not improve reading scores as much as "no child left behind" has. The desired end point is more closely tied to the family and individual motivation. Unfortunately how to deliver that elusive motivation is beyond governments capability and any government that thinks they can legislate that critical component leads it’s people down a yellow brick road.
After Mr. Obama’s performance I was very anxious to see Mr. McCain’s VP choice set for Friday. When it was announced I dug into the net to find out what was available concerning the background and experience of the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.
After reviewing the information I was aghast. With subsequent announcements the selection has proved closer to a soap opera then reality TV. A last minute, inadequately vetted candidate, who , no matter how well intended she is not in anyway qualified to serve as Vice President behind a 72 year old president.
So I continue to shudder. Both of the candidates leave me uneasy. Mr. Obama, unqualified except for raw intellect and great communication skills is promising what cannot be delivered and Mr. McCain making a very poor choice for his VP throwing into question his skills in deliberative and careful decision making. A capability that we desperately need in the White House.
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