How Could We Blow This One?

[Scuba]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/opinion/kristof-how-could-we-blow-this-one.html?_r=0

On security issues, we Americans need a rebalancing. We appear willing to bear any burden, pay any price, to confound the kind of terrorists who shout “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) and plant bombs, while unwilling to take the slightest step to curb a different kind of terrorism — mundane gun violence in classrooms, cinemas and inner cities that claims 1,200 times as many American lives.

...

Meanwhile, our national leaders have been in a tizzy over Edward Snowden and his leaks about National Security Agency surveillance of — of, well, just about everything. The public reaction has been a shrug: Most people don’t like surveillance, but they seem willing to accept it and much more as the price of suppressing terrorism. Our response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and international terrorism has been remarkable, including an intelligence apparatus in which some 1.4 million people (including, until recently, Snowden) hold “top secret” clearances.

That’s more than twice the population of the District of Columbia. The Washington Post has reported that since 9/11, the United States has built new intelligence complexes equivalent in office space to 22 United States Capitol buildings.

All told, since 9/11, the United States has spent $8 trillion on the military and homeland security, according to the National Priorities Project, a research group that works for budget transparency. That’s nearly $70,000 per American household.

[Rex]

1. The govt loves to waste huge sums of money.

That is the only conclusion one can come to in the end.

[mick063]

3. It isn't hard to figure out why the Libertarins are gaining huge political ground lately.

The "government wastes money" message is right up their alley.

If corporations own government, it isn't wasted money, it is dividends for shareholders.

We are consumers of surveillance and bullets, whether we like it or not. Forced consumerism. It is the shape of things to come.

[RudynJack]

9. What huge ground have libertarians gained?

How many members of Congress are from the Libertarian Party? How many governors?

[mick063]

11. Everything is relative

Compared to what they used to be and what they are now.

Right now, they are hidden within the Republican party and very annoyed that they were unable to circumvent the primary process as well as how they were snubbed at the convention.

Where have you been?

[RudynJack]

12. I've been here.

Waiting for an answer to my question. I'm still waiting.

[dkf]

2. So the solution is to accede more rights to the government? Maybe it's backwards...

And we need to push the 4th closer to where the 2nd is.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. This is the "social program" that we continued to vote for

Capitalism is broken at its core. It cannot work. It requires socialism to sustain itself. The socialism can take many different forms. We've chosen the absolute worst form: militaristic socialism. We pour trillions into the supposed capitalist economy through these dubious "security" contracts, because the capitalists are far too ashamed of their massive, world-historic failure and far too interested in their gubmint contracts to have it any other way. But make no mistake about it: capitalism was in massive crisis in the late 1990's, and again in the mid-2000's, and the only thing that prevented systemic collapse was huge spending by governments globally. Whether many of us would survive the systemic collapse of capital is another question altogether (and accounts, in some manner, for the popularity of apocalyptic - read: zombie - cultural production since 1999), but this is the state of play at present. And yes, obviously, our sole mission as progressives is to persuade people that the preferable form of socialism is spending on infrastructure and social programs rather than military/security; that goes without saying. We need better arguments, because the military/security socialist promoters (i.e., the capitalist class) are winning.

[ljm2002]

7. Really good post...

...and I agree, capitalism requires socialism in order to function properly.

We make a mistake in straight "either/or" thinking.

I have often argued that while we do not want the kind of socialism that the USSR practiced -- actually, a centrally controlled command economy -- we also do not want pure unfettered capitalism.

The one system subjugates the individual to the good of the state; and the other system throws away the common good for the exaltation of the individual.

We need to exalt both the individual and the society as a whole. It is imperative to value the individual, and to treasure the creativity and energy that will only occur if individuals are allowed to express their individuality and to be rewarded for their own individual creativity. It is also imperative to acknowledge that none of us exists in a vacuum, that we are really truly and fundamentally interconnected, and that we must consider the good of the whole as well as the good of the individual. (climate change comes up as an obvious case in point)

[kentuck]

5. They are weak on crime.

And the Democrats should use it against them.

They support loosening gun laws so gang members and criminals can purchase guns with which to commit crimes, even murder.

And they hide behind the 2nd Amendment and the NRA. They accuse Democrats of wanting to do away with the 2nd Amendment when all that is wanted is to keep guns out of the hands of children, criminals, and mentally unstable individuals by having a background check. That is too much of an invasion of privacy, they say. It is an attack upon the 2nd Amendment.

But, by taking that position, they are very weak on crime. And that is not good. We have to keep our streets safe in order to have peace and security.

[silvershadow]

6. So we're probably not looking for the missing $3T anymore that Rummy announced on 9/10/2000 I'd bet?

Some of us haven't forgotten that part.

[russspeakeasy]

8. How ? Practice, practice, practice.

[Cleita]

10. And yet they are taking away meals on wheels and food stamps for poor people.

What a way to squander tax payer's money.

[limpyhobbler]

13. I understand wanting to prevent terrorism but this is just a huge boondoggle.

need more transparency and oversight.