American Hegemony

I got books for Christmas, lot's of books, and after reading a few chapters of each I'm reminded once again that we can't blame the Ills of the world on a lack of knowledge. It's all there for the taking and clearly many of the serious miscalculations of today could be avoided by studying the past. No, we don't repeat mistakes because the necessary information to avoid them is unavailable, we repeat mistakes because we're lazy, deceitful or incompetent. How many times must we hear some version of Santayana's "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," before we'll learn?
President Gerald Ford's unfortunate passing provided some focus on the Vietnam War and Watergate era once again. Seeing Donald Rumsfeld and his sidekick, a 34 year old Dick Cheney at the heart of the Ford Administration was surreal. How do a couple of young guy's like this get to be Secretary of Defense and Chief of Staff? I think these selections are as insightful as the pardon of President Nixon into the mind of President Ford.
It doesn't matter now, they got the jobs and the rest is history, but it is incomprehensible that they were the guy's who supposedly had a large role in fixing the country after "our long national nightmare."
So, we have historical information in abundance, we have continuity with actual players from the previous period and guess what, we're right back where we were then except for the embarrassing conclusion.
There are theories galore and the spirit of the times, sort of "perfect storm," wielded notable influence along with a bungled con job that should make the keystone cops feel proud but, in my humble opinion, what drove the decision to invade Iraq was no more than good old fashion American hegemony. From here it masquerades as a hard to shake subtle sense of superiority arrived at by observing your immediate surroundings and believing that it is the highest level attainable. When you become this certain that your ideology is the right one and therefore the answer to the many problems that face all of the human race, you get giddy with the desire to share it with the world. Once they see how brilliant you and your ideas are, they will gladly accept their subordinate role and you will have strengthened America in the process, right? Wrong!
Isn't it strange how the psychology of those who wish to rule and those who resist being ruled is so similar yet neither ever seem to consider it. A clear eyed view always seems to come too late and this is no exception. It actually makes some sense that Cheney and Rumsfeld would wind up in such a predicament. As it turns out their true abilities were concentrated in their political skills. And the incompatibility of good judgement and political skill becomes clearer over time. I wonder if history will record that Cheney and Rumsfeld returned us to our "long national nightmare."Only if the historians are intelligent enough to wring hegemony out of the truth.

Denied The Gloat

It seems like yesterday that being against the war in Iraq was tantamount to being a Communist. I love the financial world analogies so here goes. It must be time to sell the losers, buy the winners and bury the details deeper than anyone reads. In time people forget about the poor performance and only remember owning the right stocks.
In politics, at the behest of the strategists, you serve up the crow as early as possible, eat it shamelessly, knowing that time will work in your favor. When it counts, they will have nicely positioned their clients barely a nose behind the real courageous and independent thinkers, who actually were against the war when it mattered. I don't know about you but I sure wish I had the, "If I knew then what I know now, I would have...", way out of a few of the bad decisions I've made.
What I'd really like to hear now is the internal dialog of the ones who knew better but didn't have the personal fortitude to hold to their convictions. The loss of gloating rights must be painful.
On the subject of lost gloating rights, the predicament of the century has to go to former President George H.W. Bush. Here is what he said after the gulf war. He did not give the the order to overthrow the Iraqi Government because it would have, "incurred incalculable human and political costs... We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq".
Talk about an unfortunate alignment of the stars. Imagine the work that goes into suppressing the urge to spread far and wide the "I told you so's." The only thing in the world that could prevent him from doing so would be the current situation.

But will they vote green?

I watched Bill Moyer's, "Is God Green" the other night. In between then and now I've taken a few jogs on the beach and can report that I couldn't find a 10 foot stretch of shoreline without a piece of plastic trash, washed up from a recent storm. A mile south the tide pools that teemed with life and fascinated me as a child are all but gone. I'll never be able to show these to my children and no late conversion of opinion will ever change that.
While it's encouraging to know that 63% of Evangelical Christians now believe that climate change is real, somehow I think that the other 37% represents the real danger. This is where the power hungry, corrupt and unprincipled remain. They hold on to their beliefs for far different reasons than the ones who saw fit to change sides.
Here you will find people who mine the Sciptures for what serves their needs and absolve themselves of any accountability in the name of Jesus. This is where arrogance confuses being closer to God with being God-like.
To think that there are people who believe that doing anything to slow down the process of fouling the earth is interfering with the will of God, is incomprehensible for me. We hear Senators saying, "global warming is the greatest hoax in history" and a young recently converted environmentalist Christian saying to the effect that she always thought "they" took care of the environment and we didn't. They being ''the tree hugger's-the liberals." Or the other convert saying that "he never made that connection between the Creator and Creation before. This is but a sample of the mind boggling statements made in this program.
I know that it will perhaps never be perfectly clear whether or not climate change is man made. Call me crazy but just in case it is, isn't it reasonable to include that possibility when deciding what should be done about it. The debate has been refocused on who's right and who's wrong about the cause and the issue itself goes unaddressed.
I know "Is God Green" is mostly about the progress being made and I'm thankful for that, but in a bittersweet way. See, when I was a kid I always felt a sense of pride picking up that one maybe two pieces of trash which instantly returned the beach to it's pristine and beautiful condition. Sunday I picked up 20-30 and it wasn't even noticeable. One kid then could do more than the whole world can do today.
So 63% of 20-30 million Evangelical Christians now think that Global Warming might be a problem. I wonder how they feel about the Trash Vortex? If we have to wait for Evangelical Christians to vote "Green" then we have got a long wait.

Larger Government? Please...

Let me start by saying that I'm no fan of Government run anything. The assertion that the government can run any organization better than the private sector is simply ridiculous. I didn't always feel this way, my idealistic origins had me spend 16 years working for the Government proving it to myself. Now, do I believe that we should start dismantling all Government run operations? It doesn't really matter because it is clearly impossible to do that, largely because it is simply insurmountable. These are massive culturally entrenched institutions that have evolved superior defenses. It is every public job in this country. No, they most assuredly aren't going anywhere soon.
But what about private companies like Enron or Worldcom? Disasters of course, but they did finally go down in flames. There was a beginning and and end and there was plenty of ways to look into what was going on. It took some time but that transparency ultimately brought them down. This simply does not exist in Government. I could go on and on about the waste and the secret settlements that are paid to people who are wronged (or think they were) by inside actions that never see the light of day. But, by far the real culprit is the ongoing steady erosion of performance that results from the vacuum that the Government operates in. This amounts to unimaginable billions squandered over the years.
For those of you who operate in the private sector imagine for a moment that the sales staff no longer generates the revenue. (Send them home, or sorry you can't, you'll need to absorb them into other functions.) Revenue just sort of shows up. No gross profit, no net ; margins? who cares, no profit or loss, and ebidta? forget about it. It's like being in a white room with no doors. It's what brought down the Soviet union.
It almost makes you feel sorry for them. But not really, because if you don't receive the benefit they do, your being played for a fool. To make things worse, the delusion they live under makes them odd citizens believing that an honest days work is less than it really is. Because they don't work as hard for their money, they don't think anyone else should either. This gets incorporated into society in many ways and becomes a national handicap and remarkably your tax dollars pay for it.
Now back off Mr./Mrs. Government employee who happened to stumble on this site. I am fully aware that there are hordes of you who are overworked and underpaid. But this is likely a result of what you brought with you, like a strong commitment and work ethic, not what you learned while your there. You are the ones that keep the Government running. I considered myself one of you, working myself to death while others coasted. I had a choice, become one of them or leave. I left and never regretted it.
I think that if you think for a second you'll agree that a lot of people at work don't come close to pulling their weight. But unlike the private sector nothing ever comes along to dislodge them from the system. I think I was one of the good guys but got tired and left as many do. This just concentrates what's left. This is in large part the insidious nature of large organizations without proper checks and balances.
So, what do you do? If your in a position to effect the size of government, think small. This is the ultimate case where less is more. If a politician suggests the need for a new committee or agency or department or whatever he calls it, realize that they probably don't have any answers and are buying time until the storm passes, then they'll do whatever they want. It's good old fashion lip service. Don't underestimate the power of the bureaucracy, growth is power and power is survival. You've heard it before, the bureaucracy runs the Government and it is by far more interested in serving itself than serving you. Try to elect leaders that are willing to deal with it.
Don't accept inferior service, demand to speak to a supervisor or their supervisor, raise hell, call your congressman if necessary.
Also remember that when you see the high dollar settlements, typically for discrimination or sexual harassment know that their are thousands of lesser amounts routinely paid for claims resulting from poor management. When you find yourself taking the bait, going along for the ride analyzing the fairness of some settlement amount, you have probably lost the point. The point is, incompetence. The inability of your Government to conduct itself properly. Given the way it is designed, it simply cannot improve unless the people it is supposed to serve speak up.

Norman Livermore Jr.

I've always been curious about what shapes peoples opinions. I remember going to college and being struck by, actually slammed head-on into, a wall of divergent points of view. One of the most perplexing was about the environment. The urban city types, with little access to open space were all for preserving as much as possible. The rural or country folks with access to loads of it, felt that the mere idea was in itself threatening. There were many ways to explain this but that's how it was.
I made this connection with then Governor Ronald Reagan. Besides coming from a rural background he wasn't shy about saying some very threatening things about the environment. One prime example was "A tree is a tree, how many more do you have to look at."
Being the idealistic young city dweller, I don't know what made me more uneasy, final exams or Ronald Reagan. Everything he said or did was an affront to my sensibilities. An interloper who had no right to call California home.
Somehow, Reagan selected Norman Livermore Jr, as head of what was the equivalent of the state Environmental Protection Agency. Mr.Livermore died this last week at the age of 95, he was a good man.
I'm sure Mr. Reagan knew he was an environmentalist in corporate clothing but to his credit picked him anyway. In short, although very different, these men through mutual respect and collaboration went on to achieve some great things together.
Often thought of as a poor environmental performer, Reagan with Livermore, in fact succeeded in what would become Redwoods National Parks and the vetoes of the Dos Rios Dam and a Tran-Sierra Highway.
In the case of the Dos Rios Dam, Livermore set up a meeting with Reagan and the Indian tribe who's spiritual grounds would have been flooded along with hundreds of farms and ranches. Reagan, moved to tears, turned against the project saying, "We've broken to many damn treaties."
Like I've said before, my disagreements with Reagan's policies outweigh my agreements but, as his political career progressed I had a sense that we'd be OK because inside he was a decent human being.
There is a big difference between Reagan and our current situation. He was big enough to allow to be led around by his nose for a while if needed to come to the right decision. This takes some intellectual depth and a personal constitution.
For the future, the members of his party can invoke his name all they want but without the equivalent they've got nothing. And for now it's clear that there are no Ronald Reagan's serving in this administration.