Letters to the Editor
Elric O M
Published Letters: 40 Editor's Choice: 16
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A Midnight Run
[Read the article: Upending the Mayberry Machiavellis]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Not having any policy aparatus would scare most administrations. After all, what you do if some crisis occurred (think Katrina)? If you were really interested in running the government you would never hand everything over to the politcal wing.
Our boy Karl may have some grand long-term ambitions, but I assure you GWB does not. He doesn't do long-term, no matter how Churchillian he is trying to sound on Iraq as of late. From the beginning President Bush has treated being the head of the Executive branch as though he were a frat boy on a drunken midnight spree with his buddies in a borrowed SUV. He and his pals could care less if they bust the shocks, fry the transmission or ruin the tires because it isn't THEIR car and they intend to ditch it on the side of the road when the gas runs out.
They will be only too happy to leave it to others to haul away the wreck and pick up the scattered cans and bottles. And most importantly of course, to pay for it all...
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Keep your powder dry
[Read the article: The U.S. attorneys scandal gets dirty]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hold on everyone. Mr. Follman is hardly carrying water for the Administration. In fact, if you read the article closely it points out the ridiculousness of the whole affair. I mean, the idea of prosecuting adult porn cases in Vegas will seem patently absurd to anyone who has spent 5 minutes walking down The Strip.
Of course the porn prosecutions weren't the real reason, but it would be almost sadder if they were: misguided priorities incompetently executed. The Bush Administration in a microcosm.
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Incomplete People...
[Read the article: Wolfowitz's girlfriend problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I understand people like Mr. Wolfowitz and the other top officials of the Bush Administration only too well because I share many of their traits! They are incomplete people.
On the positive side they have ambition, youthful exuberance and unshakable optimism. Unfortunately, these favorable traits are more than cancelled out by a sense of entitlement, a lack of self-knowledge and the complete absence of any sense of personal responsibility. Only a nation as rich as the U.S. could absorb 6 years of leadership by these adolescents and still function!
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It won't be easy....
[Read the article: A Gonzales resignation is not enough]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Republican-led Congress had essentially allowed itself to be 'bitch slapped' by the Bush Administration over the last 6 years. The Congress is finally beginning to show some oversight after the Democratic midterm victory, However, the Democrats have quickly learned that it won't be easy. Congressional investigators must run a gauntlet constructed over 6 years by secretive and vindictive Administration officials who lie as second nature.
In addition, the Democratic Congress will have to fight off Republican rearguard actions channeled through the still mainly clueless mainstream media. It comes down to Sean Connery's question in The Untouchables: "How far are you prepared to go?". As the Bush Administration has shown that it is prepared to go down to the wire, just being in the right won't be enough. When you face down a vicious and determined adversary you have to be willing to accept a lot of pain: I wonder if the Democrats are?
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He's So Unusual?
[Read the article: "We cannot stay as an occupying force in the Middle East"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What is so unusual about Chuck Hagel is that he is not unusual at all; at least he wouldn't have been 20 years ago. Being conservative didn't used to mean that you agreed with the current Republican Party leadership on every issue. Mr. Hagel seems like a thoughtful and inquisitive man. He has basic guiding principles but makes decisions based on the particulars of the matter under consideration. Isn't that what senators are supposed to do?
This attempt to transform him into the Cyndi Lauper of U.S. politics just shows how weird our current political climate has become, the media included. When the Republican Party returns to normal, as it will of course eventually, Mr. Hagel will be right in the mainstream.
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The Good Society
[Read the article: You can't stop a tidal wave with a fork]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]David,
First, my hat's off to you for achieving a sort of enlightenment, at not, I guess, such an advanced age.
As to the substance of your article, I basically agree with you because it would be impossible not to. Globalization is a tidal wave (actually a 'Tsunami' might be more descriptive) and you are right in saying that nothing short of shutting down the country could stop it. You also right that harebrained retraining schemes and going into blame mode are useless. I will, however, take issue with you on 2 points.
First, economic relocations, Schumpeter's 'Creative Destruction', have and will continue to serve as a vital driving force in the U.S. economy. Industries have constantly arisen and then disappeared; the most numerous job category in the U.S. used to be 'Farmer'. Now it isn't even listed in the Census Report.
However, in most cases the speed of the transformations was vastly slower. Industries died gradually and perceptive people could see it coming and plan for it. Now people's livelihoods and pensions can be offshored overnight. The government has an obligation to at least partially compensate workers who can not make the shift when their industry suddenly evaporates.
My second point flows from the above. Why should the government intervene in rational economic decisions? The answer is the type of society you want to create. I don't think many Americans would be too thrilled about returning to the Industrial Revolution, a time where workers were almost literally treated as interchangeable 'units of production'. A good society is one where moral and hardworking people can enjoy a reasonable degree of economic security. A good society must reward effort, not just ability.
Edwark Luttwak pointed out that if you live in a highly economically polarized society; one where a few people hold a disproportionate share of the wealth, you incur very high indirect costs. Basically, the wealthy minority must live in grated communities and create private police forces to protect themselves from the poorer masses. If the U.S. becomes a society where even the average college graduate can not reasonable expect to buy a home and raise a family it won't be a very nice place to live.