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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Obsession: Not just a cologne, but a way of governing |
Current rating: 0 |
by Don Harrison
(No verified email address) |
07 Aug 2002
Modified: 08 Aug 2002 |
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One of the few voices in the dominant media that is making sense. |
 One of the few voices in the dominant media that is making sense. |
PResident Bush still favors partially privatizing Social Security.
Would you believe it?
Can you imagine the hysteria that would sweep through the land if people's Social Security savings had been invested in Wall Street stock, while it's been plummeting? Yet our chief executive - who is consistent if nothing else - is standing by the cockamamie idea.
Another example of government by obsession, this administration's modus operandi.
For example, our fearless leaders continue to plan an invasion of Iraq. Why? Because they're obsessed with Saddam Hussein.
Here we are, still unsure just who is responsible for 9/11 and why, whether our Afghan campaign has really done anything to prevent further atrocities, not even able to track down the probably-homegrown nut shipping anthrax through the mails - and what preoccupies our administration? Iraq, a two-bit backwater, which - no matter how our powers-that-be would love to find a link - has not been tied in with 9/11 in any way. Or with anthrax, either.
Is Saddam a bad guy? You bet he is. So are a lot of the world's leaders, including some we cozy up to, like his neighbors in Saudi Arabia, where most of the 9/11 hijackers hailed from. Is he developing those dreaded "weapons of mass destruction"? Probably. But so are a lot of countries. So, in fact, are we - big time. When it comes to WMDs, you can be sure the United States is way ahead of the rest of the world combined.
But we can't invade ourselves. So let's go invade Iraq. Maybe Americans will forget about the economy going south or an attorney general who's trying to whittle away our rights in front of our eyes.
Wag the dog, anyone?
Who would benefit from privatizing all or part of Social Security? Even if stocks were on the rise, instead of in free-fall, the program would put at risk the pensions of millions of ordinary Americans.
Government by obsession.
And just when it looks like the bloodbath in the Middle East couldn't get any more intractable, a U.S. invasion of Iraq would exacerbate the existing mess, add to the loss of life and turn the Islamic world even more against us than it already is. Also, what would we do with Iraq after Saddam is gone?
Government by obsession.
It's pretty scary. In a world growing increasingly hostile to us, with our economy frighteningly shaky and our vulnerability shockingly evident, we have a clueless president, surrounded by ideologues. Our checks-and-balances are barely functioning because dissent is equated with treason in this "time of war" (against whom?) and judicial appointees must pass muster by True Believers.
Was that an election in 2000 (in which, if you recall, the loser won)? Or was it a coup d'etat?
-------------------------------------------------- Don Harrison, a veteran Philadelphia journalist, was deputy editor of the Daily News opinion pages for almost 20 years.
Copyright 2002 Philiadelphia Daily News
Thanks to global IMC newswire and Gosh's graphic comment for this story ;>) |
See also:
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/opinion/3807552.htm
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graphic credit |
by JF
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
08 Aug 2002
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note that the graphic comes from adbusters.
http://adbusters.org/spoofads/fashion/obsession-m/ |
