Are you crazy? No. Perhaps your belief in UFOs is not correct/provable/demonstrable...but that does not make you crazy!

Lots of people believe in all kinds of things that may not be correct/provable/demonstrable, etc... - that does not mean they are crazy. They may be wrong, perhaps even seriously deluded, but that is not necessarily the same as 'crazy'...

Many people believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, through a visitation of some Holy Ghost... - they are not necessarily crazy on account of that belief.

Many people (presumably including GW Bush) believe that Jesus walked on water, multiplied a few loaves of bread and some fishes into enough numbers to feed huge multitudes, brought the dead to life, expelled evil spirits, rose from the dead himself, etc, etc... but they are not necessarily crazy on account of those beliefs.

Many people chose to elect GW Bush as President of the USA in 2004 when it was clear to practically everyone else in the world that he was a war criminal, a liar, a thief and an utter scoundrel... but they are not necessarily crazy on account of of electing GW Bush. Certainly they were very foolish... but crazy? No.

Many people still have GW Bush as POTUS, though he is probably the worst person to have in that powerful position - but they are not necessarily crazy on that account. They are surely very, very foolish indeed... but crazy? I believe they are not necessarily crazy on that account. If they are indeed crazy, there has got to be other evidence to demonstrate they are crazy.

GSC

It's clear the mess we are in has resulted from far too little thought being applied (by most individuals and by all governments) on the things we do from day to day, on how we invest our energies and resources, on the goals we want to accomplish...

Thus, well before the spending spree suggested by Joe Conason, what we all need to do is to go on a 'deep thinking' spree.

-- "What kind of a world do we want for ourselves, for our children and for their children?"

-- "What are the THINGS WE SHOULD DO NOW (today and tomprrow and the tomorrow after that...) in order to get the kind of world we want now and the kind of world we want to leave?"

-- "What are the BARRIERS / DIFFICULTIES / THREATS that may hinder accomplishment of our goals and of the things we need to do today and tomorrow and...?"

-- "What are the STRENGTHS we possess that could help us accomplish our goals and the things we need to do?"

-- (etc)

Some serious thinking along the above lines is what is needed well before any governmental spending spree such as Joe Conason proposes. (In fact, it has been far too much thoughtless government spending and a huge lack of adequate societal control on the way our societal instruments function that has led us to our present sorry pass.

There will be a hundred thousand different (and often conflicting) opinions voiced on each of the questions above. It will not be easy at all to resolve the clutter and clatter of all the less-than-adequately thought out ideas that are generated. However, there are available effective 'tools for thought' that can help.

The renowned systems scientist, John N. Warfield, has developed a whole portfolio of 'idea-generating and clarifying tool' that can help people record and clarify their ideas to each other. There will still be a huge number of ideas from all sides...far too many for us to grasp effectively.

Warfield has also developed powerful modeling tools that can enable us to discover, from our own understanding and current perceptions, how those ideas may "contribute to" or "hinder" accomplishment of each other and the goals we have set. Warfield's approach renders it possible for us to arrive at a well-designed consensus for action on complex issues of all kinds - in all kinds of issues where societal decisions are today made without enabling people to record their views and to have them integrated into societal action. More information about Warfield's work is available at http://www.jnwarfield.com and at the "John N. Warfield Collection" of books, papers and presentations maintained at the library of George Mason University (check out: http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/gmu/vifgm00008.tp).

Based on Warfield's seminal contributions to systems science, I've developed a uniquely powerful generic aid to problem solving and decision making that I call the 'One Page Management System' (OPMS). The OPMS enables us, as individuals and groups, clearly to understand the complex interactions of actions and activities in systems, and also to understand how to design and develop the systems we need to ensure that we do not continue to blunder into catastrophe the way we have been doing because of the various 'thoughtless sprees (of spending; of wasting precious resources; of making war; etc)' we have continuingly engaged ourselves in so very foolishly.

I'd be happy to send more information about the OPMS to those interested, along with access to freely available prototype software realising the OPMS, which would enable people to do the needed modeling effectively. Write me at gs (underscore) chandy (at) yahoo (dot) com.

-- GSC

And for sure there will be plenty of dirty tricks being played between now and Election Day!

GSC