People don't change unless they have to. That is why tragedy is always a good opportunity because people take the time to inspect the situation during that time. If things are all good, why waste energy inspecting something? If it ain't broke don't fix it per se.
I was at the car dealer and missed the game. It sounds like Be-more blew it. Pitt beat West Viginia by lining up in goal line formation the whole game. It took some nads and a few defensive stops but that technique can work on the Pats. As a result, I am now rooting for them to go undefeated. I thought about the old Dolphins and realized that I don't like any of them individually. They seem like a bunch of a-holes. I like Moss, and Brady has allowed me to beat many a Lombardi in fantasy football. Plus, Belichik is a nerd who got revenge. I can relate to a mad scientist more than Shula.
Back to politics though. The War on Terror, Iraq and Iran are the same thing fundamentally. They are the current threat to manage. America needs threats. Without them our governent is useless. The whole purpose of the governement is to protect, which is why we pay taxes. America uses these threats to make changes. 9/11 led to government upgrading it's whole computer system to spy on Americans. Rumsfeld wrote a document highlighting the need of this and also stated that catasrophe had to happen before the changes could take place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
By keeping things hostile with Iran, the president has a trump card to play whenever he wants which is the security of America. It's just a leverage. Individual citizens are useless to a President. He is looking at things from a country level and if young boys dying in Iraq allows him to pursue his agenda then he will ship them off to die in a heartbeat. Also, the types of wars that really go on are financial wars. This is the key. Weaponry is the only advantage we have over the world. The more expensive they are to develop the less likely other countries will develop them. In order to catch up to us in terms of defense, any other country would have to bankrupt itself to keep up. This is what happened to Russia and why it broke apart. The cold war was a long term financial war and America knew that Russia could not sustain itself for too long. They are trying to play that game with China too. A nuke is the hardest and costliest weapon to develop. If Iran gets a nuke, they make a tremendous jump in standing in the worldwide arms race.
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3 comments:
in your 3rd paragraph, are you implying that rumsfeld was aware of a the specific 9/11 threat or perhaps aided in someway the ability for the terrorists to accomplish it? so then, he could carry out his agenda of "spying on americans?"
If managing threats is the only way our government can function, how would you explain your approval (my assumption) of Clintons term in office. He didnt dust up any big behives during his presidency or lable anyone as a significant threat. Was his government deemed useless in your opinion?
maybe rumsfeld had some fwd thinking, knowing what problems lay beyond in the next decade and relized the way to keep people safe are things like the patriot act. and the only way to get something like that approved is by a catastrophy.
I don't understand why people are so pissed about the patriot act. correct me if i'm wrong, but they basically have the ability to spy on potential "bad guys" right? if you arent a bad guy and have zero to hide, why do you care? i care less if homeland security wants to tap my phone line. what they gonna hear? "dude, um, dude." then they're gonna find someone else to bother.
you are absolutely right about the cold war. Reagan knowingly bankrupted russia in the arms race. peace through strength and they couldnt keep up. china can give us an economic beat down in more ways than an arms race.
iran has a nuke? peace through strength? don't know. they're crazy. would they use it on isreal? doubt it. the midget would know they'd be turned into a sheet of glass. but a nuke gives them worldwide bargining power.
Thanks for the response Mr. Limar.
I am not really opposed to the goverment spying (aka Patriot Act) because the devices used for it had my company's parts on them.
I think what they did was needed, but I don't agree with their assumption that a catastrophe had to occur to fix it. I am also not comfortable with the fact that they may have not worked as hard as they possibly could have in terms of preventing it.
I think different threats to society determine what the government uses to get things done. Right now, terror is the treat and 9/11 is a profound template. I think Clinton's era had different issues so the tactic to leverage society's hot botton was different at the time. Clinton had the economy going so well that he could always use that as leverage during that time.
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