Common Sense and the Economy

It doesn't take a genius to tell you that something is wrong. Some say that America is in a deep economic recession, and to be sure, times are tough. Some argue against these claims, citing their numbers and facts while avoiding reality, somehow clinging to the hope that things aren't as bad as all that. The problem is that it really is as bad as all that. Something is undeniably amiss when a government is indebted to the tune of nearly $10 trillion. And as with any problem, it is necessary to approach this fiasco from multiple angles, to address not only the What, but also utilize some of the other W's, namely the Who, the Why and the When. It is most important of all, however, to understand the HOW (do we fix it).

The Who should be easy to determine, at least in a broad sense: in a word, the answer to this question is the WORLD. America is indebted to countries all over the planet. To name them specifically would be further enlightening, but not necessary for the purposes of my argument. The point is simple: if we're indebted to the rest of the world, that means the rest of the world (and more to a point, the very wealthiest of the world) owns America. That is not a very comfortable thought to my mind, but a fact that must be faced nevertheless.

The Why is much trickier and far less obvious. As such, I don't have much more than personal inferences to back up my own claims. But my opinion is simple. America was founded on certain ideals that are no longer popular in Washington. Our government has been hijacked by people with an opposing world view. There's no other explanation for how we could have deviated so far from our origins -- none that I will ever subscribe to, anyway.

Regardless of Who might ultimately be behind the fiscal mess in which America and, accordingly, the rest of the world, finds itself, it is necessary to understand this dangerous worldview we now find gaining popularity in the modern political arena, this idea that National Sovereignty is unimportant. Much of Renaissance and Enlightenment political philosophy addresses the importance of National Sovereignty, and our own Constitution is built around those revolutionary ideas, as well as the foundational underscore of Freedom for all citizens. The only thing that could possibly drive our leaders to sell their own country, which is exactly what has happened, is a parting of ways from this ideology.

This catastrophic worldview can be seen, readily, throughout the political scene. We no longer focus on fixing our own problems, whether it's economic, educational, military, or social, in nature; instead we've been coerced into believing that we have a duty to fix the rest of the world's problems first. I agree that the whole world must work together in this environment of globalization, but they must do so as independently sovereign states, able to freely speak for themselves.

This mentality saturates our media as well, which is no mistake by my reckoning. Whether advocating reconstruction by force as per the terribly unfortunate current events in Iraq or advocating reconstruction by more outwardly peaceful means, which usually amounts to throwing money at a problem (money we don't actually have, mind you), the media assumes we don't know an alternative to nation-building.

The point is it isn't our responsibility. And even further than that, these people who have come to depend on our government's handouts (read: your and my tax money) are human beings just like the rest of us. To assume that these cultures do not possess the same potential for a free and just society that we had at our nation's founding is both immoral and racially crude, based, in my opinion, on the same style of ludicrous research as early eugenics, which aided Hitler's genocidal thinking, and action. This mentality has the potential to stop civil rights advances in their tracks, something this nation cannot afford.

When you think about it, excessive foreign aid makes a lot of sense, seeing as how America no longer owns itself. Hmm, I think there's another word for not owning oneself... what was it again? Oh, that's right: Slavery. It's past time America broke free of its proverbial shackles and once again owned its own destiny.

Stay tuned for more on this topic, namely the When and the HOW (I need to do more research).

Iran, Just so You Know, I Want to be Friends

I just read an article, and have also been studying up casually, on America's potential war with Iran. Right now, this is an issue of utmost importance and I hope more people will inform themselves about it.

The article is about Tom Loughlin, an ex-lawyer and photographer who hopes to change the American public's perception of Iran with his project entitled "Pictures of You," featuring pictures of Iranian citizens at work and at play. Loughlin plans to showcase his pictures to ultimately avoid further unnecessary, immoral, and dangerous intervention in the Middle East region. Iran has for years been a target in the sights of America's military-political elite, despite having discontinued their nuclear arms research five years ago.

Many Americans don't know how they should feel about foreign countries, like Iran, and understandably so -- they have been led ever onward toward confusion. It is vital to understand that this chaotic state was engineered and also equally vital to understand by whom. No one knows what to think about anything, because we live in, precisely, this culture of confusion. If your mind hasn't been swept away entirely by the latest pop craze from week to week, it is still difficult to make heads or tails of any given situation while being lied to consistenly and systematically. And now the military-political elite, the current powers that be, spread, undeniably, across both "sides" of the political spectrum, Republican and Democrat, or Republicrats, as I prefer them, because they're very near the same thing, are seeking new ways to convince an already disillusioned public that more war would be good.

This article really struck a heart-string for me. It is just such a refreshing notion to step past the prevalent political bipartisanship, obviously destructive to 95% or more of the world's people (read: those not hoarding wealth); past the cliches on how darned suppressed, biased, and controlled the media is, without actually doing anything to change it, merely seeing who can bitch about it the hardest, and allowing it to flourish in the limelight; and emerge into a whole new environment, rife for debate and questioning. It's past time we stepped back and looked at our beloved America, and asked the question: do we want this generation of America to be remembered as global bully or for what America is historically known for and was in fact designed to represent: the closest thing to a perfect society that humans have thought of yet, setting an example for everyone else? I vote the latter.

The Nuge

I haven't written in a few days and I need to catch up on things I've been meaning to write about. Things like going to see the Nuge, the Motor City Madman, the Whackmaster, or whatever other name you might prefer that the outrageous rocker has coined for himself. If there's one thing he is it's cocky. His stage presence was radiant at the Lucas County fairgrounds to celebrate their 25th Annual Rib-off. And who better to celebrate such a momentous occasion? He did indeed celebrate it well, dedicating nearly every song he played, from "Wang Dang Sweet Poontang" to "Dog Eat Dog" all the way to "Stranglehold" to what he liked to call "the sacred flesh." Being that he's also one of the most famous hunters in the world, and loves to go out and "kill shit" (his term, not mine), this wasn't unsurprising to me. What I've been wondering is whether this man is a respectable hunter and person or just a sadistic weirdo who's catered his chaotic tendencies to the masses.

Now, well known to most people near me, I think things to death. I often don't let them go even when I know I should. So, I annoyed people with comments like "It was kinda insensitive of him to wear that feather headress out on the stage. And besides that's something to do out in the Dakotas where Indians actually wore headresses, not in Toledo." And I can see why this might annoy some people. It's nitpicky but that's because I am. I often hold people to too high of standards. Call it a flaw if you must, but it's how I work.

He's a sight, standing up there, so proud of what he does, maybe too proud, but praising America and our freedoms in unconventional ways, all while rocking out: that warrants my respect though. And his lyrics can easily be manipulated to entertain folks at a massively large barbecue, because there's not really much depth to them. Dog eat dog, yep, that means we have to prey on one another to get ahead. Wang Dang Sweet Poontang, yep, people like having sex. And he's charismatic enough to realize that and cater to his crowd, cheesy as it may be to sing "Baby's gonna get some ribs tonight!"

His show was entertaining though, to be sure, especially for someone like me, who grew up listening to classic rock, especially Detroit-centered. But what about his beliefs? I know, it doesn't matter, yeah. Well, it does to me. I think about these kinds of things. I didn't like the feather headress, but I know 90+% of his crowd went nuts over it. Then when he declared that his Gibson archtop was "the Great White Buffalo" and vowed to kill it with his bow, the crowd was inconsolable. And I have to admit, watching him light an arrow and bullseye the crossed arrow target on the back of his guitar does get the blood pumping a bit. But other elements of his show, like when he tasked the American Armed Forces with "killing all the assholes for Uncle Ted" or any one of the many times he lauded "killin' shit and grillin' it" as a great American pastime, it kinda made me want to punch him in the head. But that's the general "conservative" concensus, I guess, and he got almost as great of a cheer for that as for his archery stunt. Kill all the assholes out there for Uncle Ted. Say that at a rib-off if you want people to love you.