Our National Stupidity

[DaveT]

What are the odds that the war between Georgia and Russia will escalate into World War III? Not all that likely, really. Maybe five percent? Two?

Who knows? But the chance is definitely not zero.

Bush, Cheney, McCain and the neocon punditocracy's hollow posturing about how we have to stand up to Russia is nothing more than election year bullshit, right? The GOP has no prayer of winning the election on domestic issues, so trouble in a far corner of the world that most Americans cannot find on a map offers a nice opportunity to remind people of how "dangerous" the world is and how important it is to have one tough hombre as "Commander in Chief."

So here we go again, with the internet aflame with the factual dispute of what happened on the ground in some place that I had never heard of, called South Ossetia. The tireless propaganda machine that backs Bush and McCain and the national policy of perpetual war tells us that They Started It; other sources from all over the world breathlessly work to debunk the official narrative. No, no, no -- Georgia started it, with the connivance of the Bush Administration!

Hell, I'm ready to buy the premise that the Bush government hoked up this war. It fits with everything else they have done in world affairs since taking office.

But my question is this: What difference does it make who started it? Let's say the warmongers are dead right, just for the sake of argument. Let's say that Russia has been angling for months toward re-conquering Georgia, the birthplace of Uncle Joe Stalin.

So what is the United States of America going to do about it?

We are currently at war in two other countries, and we are borrowing the money to pay for both wars. This fiscal insanity is playing into a parallel borrowing binge by corporations, speculators and consumers that has already crashed major banks and is threatening to destroy the dollar.

Other than sporting an arsenal of nuclear weapons, the USA has nothing to fight with -- no economic leverage, no political support from other nations, no functional military presence in the area. We are a paper tiger.

When the McCain Candidacy puts forth the proposition that we need a strong hand on the tiller during these dangerous times, what the hell is The Commander in Chief supposed to do?

Of course it would be political suicide for Obama to acknowledge the reality of American weakness in the world. The main stream media would pulverize him -- and millions of people who are leaning toward voting for him would probably bail out.

As a nation, we have been top dog for so long that we cannot imagine a world in which we are just another country. Instead, we lie to ourselves.

We have only one option if our Commander in Chief's big talk leads us into a confrontation with Russia -- to blow up the world.


I thought that Katrina would lead ultimately to the impeachment and removal of GW Bush from office. His policies have made our nation weaker in every way, and his performance in a crisis demonstrated that he is not up to the job of dealing with a crisis. But our political institutions have failed us. We are led by a schoolyard bully who does not know how to back down from anything.

God watches out for drunks, fools and the United States of America. We will probably get through this thing without blowing up the world. Probably.

We are indeed a nation of idiots.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

1. True and terriifying

[Pooka Fey]

2. Nice post, and Stupid has 5 more months with red button access. K&R

[DaveT]

3. This crisis is why the Congress should have impeached

and convicted both Bush and Cheney a long time ago.

Their policies are bad enough, but I can relate at some level to Pelosi and Company's rationalization about the politics of impeachment. Maybe is it "smarter" to let them run out the clock while pissing off the public more and more and more. But wondering if these blundering loudmouths are going to blow up the world seems to me to be bit more pressing of a problem than angling for the elections of 2010 and 2012.

This is some serious shit.

We are all in this boat together and we are all responsible for the failure of our Constitution to deal with the crisis that is the Bush Administration. Obviously some are more responsible than others . . . .