The Endless Waltz - War, Peace, Revolution
xmacro
Posts: 3,402 ✭
I once heard that history has 3 primary drumbeats, the endless waltz of War, Peace, and Revolution. Watching the news these days, I'm also reminded of an old Jewish curse, "May you live in interesting times" - these are indeed interesting times, and it seems revolution is everywhere
Consider: For the first time since the 1980's and the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the American public is in the mood to deregulate, cut taxes, cut spending, and cut Gov't in general - what a reversal from just a few years ago! From Obama telling Joe the Plumber that he wants to spread the wealth around, to the Tea Party, it's been a revolution in politics. There's talk of scrapping our progressive tax code and moving to something resembling a flat tax; the Republicans are divided, but only about how much to cut - any old guard who tries to spend or vote for more stimulus/investment will be tarred and feathererd. The Democrats have just lost half their blue dogs, and are increasingly dominated by the left wing of their party, while the Republicans are being dominated by fiscal conservatives; even Obama is trying to recast himself as fiscally prudent, in order to get re-elected.
Looking across the pond, David Cameron in the U.K. just gave a speech that totally rebutted multiculturalism, the belief that all cultures are equal and no culture should tell another what to do, even in the same country (of course this has led to isolated communities of immigrants, thereby thwarting assimilation, and aiding home-grown terrorists - I encourage you to read the speech if you haven't, it's a very good argument IMO). Germany's Chencellor Merkel, the leader of Europe's engine, recently said the same.
In other parts of Europe, "Austerity" is the buzzword of the day - gov'ts are doing everything they can to cut their budgets, and there's talk of reforming the Eurozone to mandate that all participating countries not exceed a certain debt limit. From America to Europe, fiscal discipline is the dominant mood.
In the Middle East, we have Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt erupting in protests - Egypt's dictator/pharoah, Mubarak, just got tossed out (which reminds me of an old saying - in times of revolution, the only thing the poor change is the name of their masters). Jordan, Syria, and others are taking steps to get ahead of protests and institute reforms in the hope of cutting off any protesters. Iran, that bastion of theocratic dictatorship, has seen it's people rise up and has brutally cleansed it's own elite ranks of dissenters; there's resentment and anger in the streets, and the only thing keeping it in check is the Revolutionary Guards' guns.
It's hard to make sense of everything going on, but it's amazing that all these things, these revolutions, are all occurring at roughly the same time, all over the world. From the West to the East, the times are a changing'.
Consider: For the first time since the 1980's and the presidency of Ronald Reagan, the American public is in the mood to deregulate, cut taxes, cut spending, and cut Gov't in general - what a reversal from just a few years ago! From Obama telling Joe the Plumber that he wants to spread the wealth around, to the Tea Party, it's been a revolution in politics. There's talk of scrapping our progressive tax code and moving to something resembling a flat tax; the Republicans are divided, but only about how much to cut - any old guard who tries to spend or vote for more stimulus/investment will be tarred and feathererd. The Democrats have just lost half their blue dogs, and are increasingly dominated by the left wing of their party, while the Republicans are being dominated by fiscal conservatives; even Obama is trying to recast himself as fiscally prudent, in order to get re-elected.
Looking across the pond, David Cameron in the U.K. just gave a speech that totally rebutted multiculturalism, the belief that all cultures are equal and no culture should tell another what to do, even in the same country (of course this has led to isolated communities of immigrants, thereby thwarting assimilation, and aiding home-grown terrorists - I encourage you to read the speech if you haven't, it's a very good argument IMO). Germany's Chencellor Merkel, the leader of Europe's engine, recently said the same.
In other parts of Europe, "Austerity" is the buzzword of the day - gov'ts are doing everything they can to cut their budgets, and there's talk of reforming the Eurozone to mandate that all participating countries not exceed a certain debt limit. From America to Europe, fiscal discipline is the dominant mood.
In the Middle East, we have Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt erupting in protests - Egypt's dictator/pharoah, Mubarak, just got tossed out (which reminds me of an old saying - in times of revolution, the only thing the poor change is the name of their masters). Jordan, Syria, and others are taking steps to get ahead of protests and institute reforms in the hope of cutting off any protesters. Iran, that bastion of theocratic dictatorship, has seen it's people rise up and has brutally cleansed it's own elite ranks of dissenters; there's resentment and anger in the streets, and the only thing keeping it in check is the Revolutionary Guards' guns.
It's hard to make sense of everything going on, but it's amazing that all these things, these revolutions, are all occurring at roughly the same time, all over the world. From the West to the East, the times are a changing'.
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Comments
Looking through history I don't really seem much changing. Sure we have got faster with information and ways to kill someone, but really people are the same today as 2000 years ago.
most want to make a living doing something they don't hate, provide for their families, enjoy life a little. Others want it all. a few want to give it all. Don't think this is really going change humans are humans. It's just all the stuff floating around with us that changes.
EDIT - I don't agree with cutting foreign aid; I think it gives us a lot of sway in places we otherwise wouldn't have much any influence; that said, your position isn't unusual - I've heard plenty of people on both the right and the left express similar sentiments and I understand the desire not to fund these dictatorships or meddle in areas of the world we have no business in.
But I also wanna see defense cuts, no one wants to say that...and it is the largest monkey in the room.
And we need cuts everywhere else too...
I almost sh*t myself the other day when I heard Hillary Clinton say we need to be ready to pledge "financial support" for Egypt going forward... Really? We don't have the money to take care of our own country, why the hell is Egypt our responsibility? This is a prime case where we need to mind our own business.
Agree 100% Puro ...
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Wait a minute. Let's clear this up a little bit. We are talking about cutting bogus projects and not just 'military' spending right. I don't thinl I can miss the birth of another child on this salary. On my first deployment I missed 15 months of my life. On this one it looks as though it will be the same, with the exception that my twins were born while I was here and because of the complications (and fear of pulling out a stillborn child) I couldn't even be there for my wife via skype, which is the only I get to see any of my 5 kids or my wife for the next 8 months. My mid tour leave was taken away because I had to go for an emergency. So on my two week vacation I spent about 3 hours in a car to see my kids for two hours a day and went home to watch my wife cry herself to sleep. Doing that on this salary is rediculous. Doing it for less is stupid. I just want to make sure that we're are talking about taking away the raises from the overflated income of the beuricrats and not the ground pounders. Because. The first thing that gets cut in 'military' spending is 90% of the time our paycheck.
It's always funny how so many on the Left say "let's cut the military's budget", but when someone says "hey, let's cut some of those union benefit packages, y'know, the ones that are higher than the private sector", people go wild.
Please, do not misunderstand me, in my opinion military pay is not the problem. Military adventurism is, as well as the stupid notion that wars should be never-ending "nation-building" exercises run from Washington. If we're going to war, I want to go to WIN! Give the great generals like Stanley McChrystal whatever they tell you they need, let them win, COME HOME.
Afghanistan, for example, is not known as "The Graveyard of Empires" for no reason. No matter how long we stay, no matter how much we accomplish, when we leave the Afghani's will raise their hands in victory and declare that they have defeated and repelled the invaders, again. Charlie Wilson had the right idea. On that note, perhaps we could have a Charlie Wilson moment in the Arab world now, and support freedom and democracy for those who have finally stood up for it. Tricky business, but wouldn't it be nice if the Arabs could be free and peaceful? Long row to hoe.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Not going to get into the left vs right debate as I think that has gotten nonsensical and just a way to keep the majority of people from realzing the real issues and keeping the country divided...as that way we remain angry, uniformed, and unorganized to realize the real issues and goals which is what all those in power despite political leanings really want.
<( I've seen that leter before and love and completely agree with it. As for everything else, I'm not mad, not even upset. I just wanted to mak sure we were focusing on the issue of bloated government spending, and not the fact that E4s and below quallify for almost every level of Governmet bennifits (ie. Wellfare, wic...). I am reading these posts, most of the time, from a handheld device (personal) that I use to stay in contact with my wife at all times. I have premie twins at the house along with 3 older children, and staying in touch with my family is important to me. The over budjeting for projects is, IMHO, a huge problem and needs to be addressed. However I run into the issue from my end, when am I to say that a project won't save the lives of hundreds of soldiers. Or for that matter one? Where exactly do we draw the line of a cost benifit annalysis when it involves the life of a soldier? What if that soldier was one of your children and you later found out that there was a program developing a tool or technology that would have helped them in their specific instance? How would you feel then? I also think that paying 400 dollars for a toilet seat or hammer is rediculous as well.