Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (236428)	6/9/2005 3:09:16 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1570918

You know, I think we agree on many things. The difference is that I feel that you dwell on the mistakes Americans have made, whereas you feel I dwell on the mistakes the Arabs have made. I think we do agree on some things but my primary issue is not the mistakes in the American execution of the war in Iraq. That's more your issue. I think mistakes would have been made no matter who was in power because I don't think war is as much of a science as the generals would like us to believe. For an example, no one including the best general can predict the reaction of the locals to an invasion. So, no, I expected mistakes all along the way. I just never thought we should be in the war in the first place.......it never made sense from an argument based on logic and pragmatism. But my issues run even deeper than that. Actually, I have four major problems with the US. First, I don't like the attitude we have acquired that we know what's best for the world. Prior to WW II, the US had mostly an isolationist policy. It came from the belief that the world was pretty screwed up and that we best attend to our own affairs. However, after being dragged into two world wars which weren't really world wars but rather a reflection of the arrogance of the West that they and only they consitute the world, the US decided it needed to keep its finger in the pot. Eventually, over time, as the US became more and more successful economically, the US position became one of we-have-our-house-in-order and we-know-what's-best-for-the-world. There was considerable evidence that that premise was not true.......after all, we had major race riots in the 1960s and we became seriously entwined in a major war based on a lie thanks to another president from TX; a war which we were forced to retreat from a decade later. However, none of the negatives that reared their ugly heads were heeded....and their implications ignored........that maybe we weren't the heroes/white knights we thought we were. Which leads me to my second concern........the American people. I am no longer clear whom they are and for what they stand. However, I know one thing....they are not paying attention to the acts perpetrated by their leaders and are not making their leaders accountable for those acts. There is an incredible lag time between when a problem surfaces and when the American people 'get it'.......sometimes up to a year. I know that now because of this thread. A problem may develop in say October of any given year and it won't register in the polls until maybe April and even some time later in the next year. That is way too long. Americans have become lazy and have forgotten their responsibilies as citizen of a democracy. Your leaders are supposed to be accountable to the people, not to each other. This lack of attention by the people leads to my third concern........the US has become a country that allies itself with countries that do not espouse American principles. In fact, they are the antithesis of who we profess to be. And in that process, we have done some very horrific things like provided Saddam with the chemicals and equipment to make WMDs. We have given financial and military aid to some of the worst tyrants on the planet......secretly or indirectly of course. More and more, I am convinced that the people who are leading us are not the best people to be doing so. That leads me to my final complaint. The wealthy have hijacked America. They put up for president people like George Bush who is an embarrassment to anyone who has any sophistication and understanding of foreign affairs to run this country. They push Congress to make deals with undesirable nations in order to enhance their financial empires. For decades now, their wealth has grown at the expense of the middle class and more and more of America's assets and resources have become concentrated in their pockets. They refuse to fight America's wars and instead send those from the lower classes to do their bidding. It wasn't always that way..........in WWI and WWII, the officers were from the upper class. Its gotten so bad that people like Paris Hilton have created an industry around the flaunting of their wealth. Have you ever seen her show, The Simple Life......its premise centers around her ability to make fun of the average American while doing jobs she clearly feels are beneath her. And its not just the Paris Hiltons. People like Russell Crowe think they can throw phones at workers because they are homesick. The officers of Enron believed they had the right to screw thousands of investors. The CEO of Tyco had to have a ten thousand dollar shower curtain. The excesses of the wealthy are flaunted in our faces on a daily basis. Its disgusting. More disturbing is how they are allowed and even assisted by people like Bush and by the GOP in their efforts to concentrate more of America's wealth in their bank accounts. The trend is a serious one and America now has one of the worst distributions of wealth in the West......in fact, our resource distribution is more reflective of a third world country than one from the West. And whenever anyone complains about such excesses, members from the right quickly jump on their case and accuse them of being socialists. Its an incredibly effective move that reflects the lunacy that has taken over the country. These are serious, serious problems that were responsible for the Iraq war. They have put us in a place that is damaging to Americans both physically and financially. Our image around the world is in shatters. Our alliances are in ruins. If America were a public corporation, the officers would have been fired by now.....instead, the assholes got re elected. This isn't about party vs party.....its about an ideology of excess and privilege that puts the well being of individuals ahead of the state of the union. Its not the America I studied when growing up and I don't think its the America I want to be a part of. I start grad. school in two weeks. The program will take two years. If at the end of two years, I see no change in the direction of the US I will consider emigration. I never ever thought it would come to this but America is feeling less and less like home.