|
Not only is IWR important, but there's something even bigger going on in America. It's the transfer of politically, cultural and economic power from people who have nothing to offer in exchange for money but their labor to people at the top of a very tall, narrow, and steep pyramid.
George Bush started the Iraq War not because he loves war but because he wants to use it to transfer power to his cronies. He's doing that by outright giving them taxpayer money to do things in Iraq which aren't worth what they're costing Americans. But he's also invaded Iraq to create a political landscape in which people only talk about war and foreign relations, and national security. They know that if this is the only dialog we're having this fall -- if the discussion is all about Iraq -- that many people will presume that the Republican view of the world is correct -- that spreading power down to the base of the pyramid isn't important. They know they'll win in that landscape.
I'm not saying don't talk about Iraq, or don't think about it. I'm saying that liberals need to fit it into a different paradigm -- a paradigm that explains which direction the power is flowing. And, if you listen, this is actually the paradigm within which Edwards fits his discussion of Iraq.
|