Today is the anniversary of the President Dubya's folly. I'm going to try not to spew any rhetoric. Some people think it's just a boondoggle like any other, twice as bad as the bridge to nowhere but nothing to freak out about. That's why they take our money, right? Because they definitely wouldn't be so cavalier and stupid if these things were on their dime. Still, two very expensive and useless bridges would be more amusing and less dismaying than the 3 Trillion Dollar final cost that's been projected. Especially when we all need money, even the banks...
Other people bear the human costs, and are less able to shrug and say "mm'linda." Are any of us more than two degrees away from someone in active military service? We've read the stories about the failures at the Veterans' Hospitals, and seen the pictures of the IED shrapnel in the dust, and blanched at the accounts from Abu Ghraib. What kind of nation have we become, that sends mothers and fathers into harm's way, to suffer so much horror and cause it as well?
Alright, I'm veering into rhetoric and I don't want to. My thesis is this--The Iraq War is a horrible thing, that is enormously destructive to the United States. I defy anyone, from any political perspective, to present a cogent and coherent argument that the Iraq War as it is happening is good for America. It just isn't. And it's exactly the kind of thing President Dubya told us was a bad idea when he first ran for office. (Search for "nation building"). Of course, President Dubya doesn't know how to admit that he was wrong. But I'm asking for a cogent and coherent argument in defense of the Iraq War. President Dubya can't give me that, because there isn't one.
But it's happening anyway. This horrible thing is happening. And I'm not doing much to stop it. I drive my car a little less, maybe. I read about things, and like I said, I blanche. I'm voting for the candidate whose exit strategy makes the most sense to me. I haven't joined any of the support-the-troops activities around here. I don't go to the war-protests either. I talk to the kids I work with about government and war and seeing through the simple stories. I laugh at the Daily Show.
My point is that although I'm horrified, I'm not honestly doing that much. I'd like to change that. I'm looking for ways. Philosophically, I'm starting with a short manifesto piece from CrimeThinc, Your Politics are Boring as Fuck:
For how many of you is politics a responsibility? Something you engage in because you feel you should, when in your heart of hearts there are a million things you would rather be doing? Your volunteer work—is it your most favorite pastime, or do you do it out of a sense of obligation? Why do you think it is so hard to motivate others to volunteer as you do? Could it be that it is, above all, a feeling of guilt that drives you to fulfill your "duty" to be politically active? Perhaps you spice up your "work" by trying (consciously or not) to get in trouble with the authorities, to get arrested: not because it will practically serve your cause, but to make things more exciting, to recapture a little of the romance of turbulent times now long past. Have you ever felt that you were participating in a ritual, a long-established tradition of fringe protest, that really serves only to strengthen the position of the mainstream? Have you ever secretly longed to escape from the stagnation and boredom of your political "responsibilities"?
The answer to that question, for me, is "Yes, yes I have." How about you? Are you living up to your political ideals? Do you have suggestions for me? Or do you think all this rhetoric of mine is just more bullshit, pretending to matter--
jake [email] said at 2:30 AM 03-20-2008: You are absolutely right. That seemed really weird to me but I figured since it's only a running tally of what's been spent so far, maybe a lot of costs are pending. But when I was counting places, the final digits were moving so fast I thought they were cents. I need glasses maybe.
brandon [email] said at 11:20 PM 03-19-2008: The war is an obscenity. We sold out our solvency to pursue a false sense of security and to appeal to the egos of a bunch of elitist bigots who consituted King George's advisors.
I don't know, I'm always wary of the politics of send your check here and vote for this guy, he's got the answers. I think in the long run, our day-to-day behavior as an aggregate is more important than any one vote. I also profoundly doubt that a Democratic President would not have started a war after 2001, though I should hope that the hypothetical President would have started a better one, in a better place, and ended it quickly, too.
Things you can do:
Drive less, car pool, use mass transit
Read constantly about what your government is doing, and contact your representatives at all levels when you are concerned. Even if it's "Hey, I heard about such and such a hearing, I'd like to have a transcript/copy of the proceedings and the report." You know those staffs they have in Congress. They spend a lot of time sending that stuff out to law libraries, to citizens, to researchers. Usually free of charge. When they're not under privilege - and though Congress doesn't fall under FOIA - those are government documents that you have a right to. Abuse that privilege.
Consume less, in general,
Invest "green" when possible,
Advocate for greater education opportunities in whatever context.
Volunteer where "it counts" (soup kitchens don't generally count, tutoring a kid in math does, building affordable housing does)
Get involved at a local level, politically. Start a newsletter/blog. Set up monthly screenings or informal community talks (beware of forum-hogging, aging hippies) Go to meetings. Make sure nonsense gets rooted out. Hold local government accountable.
Join and become active in a Church or Synagogue, or both. Seriously. In Baton Rouge, during the Jena debacle, as muddled as the facts of that case have become, it was primarily churches that organized the protests that embarrassed the local magistrates into giving some leeway. Not the national media, whom they despised and understood would be on to the next thing just as quickly. People in the U.S. still primarily arrange themselves around churches. Churches have enormous politial power. That said, I'm an atheist. I'm occasionally a Unitarian.
I don't know, Jake. There's not a lot of franchise in this country for the individual that doesn't sit on the otherside of buttload of money. But that doesn't mean that we are powerless. The power we can exercise manifests itself in smaller ways that are imperceptible movements out in the open sea, that may, from time to time, crash onto shore and DESTROY INDONESIA.
andrew [email] said at 8:29 AM 03-20-2008: alot of "green" wouldn't be so $green$ if the war wasn't keeping the price of oil obscene... why would the green movement want the war to end?
jake [email] said at 5:34 PM 03-20-2008: Why would the green movement want the war to end?
1. Mostly these are people motivated by principles, not profit.
2. While the war is going on, and the Democrats are successfully positioned as the anti-war party, there's little chance for the green party to gain ground.
3. They're green because they're smart enough to see which way things are headed, and the recession isn't good for anybody.
4. If you meant oil-alternative and renewable energy businesses, then yeah, the war is supporting them, but some of the above still applies, and...
5. The colossal cost of the war could have been spent, in part, on incentives to take the place of high-oil-prices.
6. Even if you discount that as idealism, the price of oil is only partly driven by the war. The industrialization of the third world would be spurring demand anyhow.
andrew [email] said at 3:38 PM 03-23-2008: There are well-documented records of "green" war profiteering, "Beyond Petroleum" being one of the biggest marketing scams. The major oil companies are banking (heavily - and through extensive research) that the United States will still be 80% oil-dependent by 2100. But instead of making our oil consumption more efficient, our government has deregulated the industry to the point of maximum exploitation. To the point that we can now send minorities off to war under the guise of democracy in the middle east, while should-be protesters pursue 'alternative' energy and ride bicycles at home.
chrisx [email] said at 5:41 PM 03-20-2008: What you can do:
1. Buy guns.
2. Buy land far from a city.
3. Enjoy the short time you have left.
It doesn't matter if you buy "green". It doesn't matter who you vote for. It doesn't matter if you write "your representatives". It doesn't matter what you write in a blog or zine aimed at those who think like yourself.
How many activists does it take to change a light bulb?
Activists can't change anything.
brandon [email] said at 6:24 PM 03-20-2008: After the hurricane, I stocked up on ammo, gathered about a month's worth of nonperishables, and made kits. Keeping it up is kind of a mild diversion now. But the scenario for needing that shit is pretty not-happening. Still, hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Marching in the streets usually doesn't do shit. Hell, it very often has the exact opposite effect. But, holding a rhetorical gun to local government does.
When people can't run away to Washington, and rely on election margins numbered in the tens or hundreds of votes, they listen to individuals and local groups, or they don't come back.
Post oil isn't going to be a mad max scenario, we've still got nuclear, natural gas, wind, solar, tidal, hydroelectric.
