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Something to think about..
Mar. 2nd, 2004 02:03 pmHistory has taught us some things but we sometimes have a hard time remembering the lesson. A long time ago we got involved with a small country in Africa called Somalia. It was there we learned about dealing with warlords and had our butts kicked by what we now know were some of Bin Laden's best troops. Before that we spent some time in Lebanon, more warlords, and more loss of American life at the hands of terrorists. We are in Afghanistan, more warlords, more lives lost. We haven't been too successful at any of these ventures, but we then decided that Iraq was different, no warlords, just a dictator we had placed in power who had become a liability not an asset. We are still there.
Then there are the dictators we have supported. It started before Viet Nam with Marcos in the Philippines, then there were a series of 'presidents' in Viet Nam. We also had adventures in Panama, Noriega was one of ours, till he didn't go along with our war on drugs and threatened to close the Panama Canal. We helped overthrow democracy in Iran in the early 1950's to install the Shah, we did it for the oil. We overthrew Allende, an elected leftist leader, and replaced him with Pinochet, a brutal fascist.
After this rambling, the point I want to get across is we have been trying to change the world for a long time and have not one success to point to. When will we learn that the world is not ours for the taking, and that people will rise up against us in ever increasing numbers because they want to shape their own destiny. We might not like their decisions but that is their god given right as human beings to decide.
We need to accept the fact that the world does not want to live like us, many are happy just to have some land to grow food, a roof over their head to provide shelter, and the ability to survive in the best way they see fit. Sure, there are many starving people out there. We waste more food than it takes to feed the rest of the world. But I digress. Before we start trying to change the world, take care of some of our problems. We need jobs, we need to eliminate the homeless problem. We need universal health care. We need to educate our people. We have the knowledge and resources to do all this, yet this government, a government of the people, by the people, for the people, has become something else. We do not live in a democracy, we live in a republic. We don't have a representative form of government, how many millionaires do you know?
Maybe its time to change the system. Capitalism has trumped democracy. Democracy is dead.
Then there are the dictators we have supported. It started before Viet Nam with Marcos in the Philippines, then there were a series of 'presidents' in Viet Nam. We also had adventures in Panama, Noriega was one of ours, till he didn't go along with our war on drugs and threatened to close the Panama Canal. We helped overthrow democracy in Iran in the early 1950's to install the Shah, we did it for the oil. We overthrew Allende, an elected leftist leader, and replaced him with Pinochet, a brutal fascist.
After this rambling, the point I want to get across is we have been trying to change the world for a long time and have not one success to point to. When will we learn that the world is not ours for the taking, and that people will rise up against us in ever increasing numbers because they want to shape their own destiny. We might not like their decisions but that is their god given right as human beings to decide.
We need to accept the fact that the world does not want to live like us, many are happy just to have some land to grow food, a roof over their head to provide shelter, and the ability to survive in the best way they see fit. Sure, there are many starving people out there. We waste more food than it takes to feed the rest of the world. But I digress. Before we start trying to change the world, take care of some of our problems. We need jobs, we need to eliminate the homeless problem. We need universal health care. We need to educate our people. We have the knowledge and resources to do all this, yet this government, a government of the people, by the people, for the people, has become something else. We do not live in a democracy, we live in a republic. We don't have a representative form of government, how many millionaires do you know?
Maybe its time to change the system. Capitalism has trumped democracy. Democracy is dead.
