Politics & War

Ignorance Is Bliss

Author and scholar Neal Gabler had an idea about big ideas in this past Sunday’s New York Times:

 

It is no secret, especially here in America, that we live in a post-Enlightenment age in which rationality, science, evidence, logical argument and debate have lost the battle in many sectors, and perhaps even in society generally, to superstition, faith, opinion and orthodoxy. While we continue to make giant technological advances, we may be the first generation to have turned back the epochal clock — to have gone backward intellectually from advanced modes of thinking into old modes of belief.

It’s a terrible thing that so many of our leaders and talking heads, especially on the right, demonize knowledge the way they do. It’s as if they are afraid that learning things that challenge preconceptions is a direct threat to their sense of self. To a degree, they’re right, but real learning is at its most profound when it jars a person out of ignorance. But I guess comfort is more important than truth.

Elephant Dung and the Final Defeat of Liberalism

The Republican Party and the Democratic Party are engaged in quite the game of brinksmanship of late. Amid warnings from leadership on both sides that a default of the US Government is imminent in a little over a week unless the debt ceiling is raised, no one on either side seems willing to get a deal done, despite the fact that all the compromise deals that have been offered by both sides, and rogue elements within their parties, are similar to the point of being indistinguishable to anyone who sees little difference between two and three trillion dollars. (That’s where we’ve come to in our debt and deficit debates, where our leaders are quibbling over numbers so vast that they enter into the abstract. It’s not the number ‘trillion’ that catches the eye in this mess, it’s the numbers ‘two’ and ‘three,’ and even ‘3.2.’) Continue reading “Elephant Dung and the Final Defeat of Liberalism”

Bring ‘Em Home, Then Cut Their Budget

The United States of America had a higher expenditure in defense spending in 2010, $687.1 billion, than it had in 1988, when military outlays reached $531.6 billion (both numbers in constant 2009 USD. Figures obtained via The SIPRI Military Expenditure Database.). This means that the United States is spending more of its treasure in combatting stateless terrorist organizations consisting of no more than a few thousand extremists, and that pose zero existential threat, than it spent at the end of the 1980s staring down the Soviets in the Cold War, a state of undeclared animosity that threatened not only the existence of the United States, but the continued survival of civilization itself. Continue reading “Bring ‘Em Home, Then Cut Their Budget”

Into the Darkness

Osama bin Laden is dead, killed by U.S. Special Forces. The country is jubilant. President Obama, in his address announcing the killing, entered the operation into the lore of triumphalism that has been a part of the American ethos for its entire history. It was our can-do spirit, our ceaseless pursuit of greatness, that guaranteed success. It was a great moment in American history. Continue reading “Into the Darkness”

Here We Go Again

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

— Senator Barack Obama, 2007

The United States is now engaged in a third war, in the country of Libya. What has been hastily sold to the American public as only enforcement of a no-fly zone in fact incorporates a pounding of Libyan ground forces in support of rebel forces. As described in a previous post on Missile Test, targets within Libya have also included command and control facilities in Tripoli and elsewhere, along with an attempt to kill Muammer el-Qaddafi by destroying his compound. This is regime change, but the public statements from the White House regarding the mission have done nothing to this point but foster confusion about our aims, goals, and who is actually leading this multinational effort. Continue reading “Here We Go Again”

Slow Your Roll, Washington

As the situation in Libya continues to show more and more signs of becoming a protracted civil war, there are politicians in Washington, from both Congress and within the Obama administration, who are calling for an American military intervention of some sort, whether it be imposing a no-fly zone over the disputed areas, or putting boots on the ground for humanitarian purposes. Continue reading “Slow Your Roll, Washington”

The Right to Unionize

The other day, a friend of mine posted a status update on his wall. “Once again Unions negotiating themselves right out of a job by making ridiculous demands and no concessions!!” referring to the labor fight in Wisconsin between unionized state workers and the GOP controlled statehouse. Below this comment he linked to a video made by the Heritage Foundation titled Wisconsin Union Protest: Myth vs. Fact. To give you an idea of where the Heritage Foundation’s views align, this quote is in the first ten seconds of the video, as uttered by a Wisconsin union supporter: “What did...what did Hitler do first? He busted the unions. Right? First you take away the unions, and then you take away the Jews, and then you take away, you know...That’s where it starts.” Continue reading “The Right to Unionize”

Cocksuckers Ball: Crottes D’Éléphants

The House of Representatives voted today, largely along party lines, to repeal the healthcare law passed last year. It was a symbolic gesture, as the Democratic-controlled Senate will not take up the bill, nor would President Obama sign it. The vote today was the culmination of two years of rhetoric and campaign promises, and with any luck, that is as far as things will go. But the GOP does have a strategy beyond meaningless parliamentary showboating. They do genuinely want this bill to disappear, and while repeal is out of the question with the current alignment in Washington, starving the bill to death by denying it funds is not. Continue reading “Cocksuckers Ball: Crottes D’Éléphants”