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choosing Kings

In high school I read "The Republic". I have forgotten most of the book but it had a big impact on my life and kernels have stayed with me.

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"The Republic" (Plato)

Socrates (through his student Plato) proposed the idea of the Philosopher King. I think about that idea often at work and especially during political elections. A King is a term for a group leader and we have them all over the place.

Who do you want to be the King?

There is that guy/gal who tells everyone how much they want to be King. How much they deserve the power to make every decision, to tell everyone what to do. That person who has an easy answer for everything. That person who is always wheeling and dealing to make themselves more important.

Even two thousand years ago, Socrates was wise enough to see that that guy is the LAST person you want for a King.

No, Socrates proposed that the King we all really want is the one that does NOT want to be King at all. The person that is wise enough to know that the job totally sucks and is much harder than it looks. The person that doesnt want all that power because they know it comes with so much responsibility. The person that walks away when the election starts.

Socrates said that you want the King that you have to force to be King. The one who only takes the job because their sense of responsibility to others; the one that understands how bad it would if that guy gets the job.

Socrates was poisoned for speaking out against that guy but I still think about him.

someone else's war

Its the end of the year. Time to reflect on the biggest issues facing our country. One of my top 3 is war.

The invisible War

Looking around where I live, you would never know that we have been at war with two other nations for nine years. And that is partly by design. When the President led us to war, he assured us that it would be over quickly, it would cost less than $60B of tax dollars and we could do it with just a subset of our existing military. Ooops.

Since we did not do a draft, these nine years of war have relied on our existing volunteer military ranks which we have redeployed year after year. We quietly placed an enormous burden on a small group of American's.

Vietnam involved a national draft which eventually caused 10% of American citizens to serve. Afghanistan and Iraq only required 1% of citizen volunteers. When 1 person in 10 was serving, it was easy to know someone directly involved. With 1 person in 100, it is easier to miss. Especially when the same President urged us to show our patriotism by continuing to shop and to fight the terrorist by ignoring them. Mission accomplished.

This war shows up on our national balance sheet as a massive deficit and it shows up in VA hospitals but elsewhere is it invisible.

The most important thing for me at this point is that we give credit where credit is due. This is a Democracy and we need to hold people accountable (rewards and blame) for their actions. I dont see that happening which is discouraging.

"War is hell"

A trite sentence that holds two opposite meanings depending on the audience. For actual soldiers who faced death and lived, it describes their experience in a way all of them viscerally understand. For those at home, far removed from reality, it is a meaningless and trite sentence that does not even conjure a second of reflection or curiosity. We see war in movies and video games every day: the heroes always win. Big deal.

I find our obliviousness to the horrific costs of war infuriating.

My uncle went to Vietnam in the infantry as a young man. While he lived, the experience ruined him. PTSD and a mental breakdown left him a shell of a person. He never became a productive member of society. He never held a job. He was a casualty of war in every sense except the fatality statistics.

But that was then. We know so much more now, right? Now we know how to handle PTSD and traumatic brain injury and amputees. Now we reward our soldiers with health care and therapy and counseling so that they are able to put their experience behind them and return to a citizen's life. When our soldiers return they have a home, a welcome, and a job. Or not.

I think it is more accurate to say that those 1% have and continue to suffer in isolation and silence. Will that lead to a future crisis? A lost generation? (Even though they are too small to be a generation) A political backlash? For now, they get the occasional Sunday talk show program.

Credit where Credit is due

The thing that has confused and frustrated me so much are the politics of the past decade. No matter the costs, some wars are necessary. Was this one?

Lets review some of the political accomplishments of the past decade:

  • A Republican President is the one who ignored the security briefings from Clinton security appointees and let the 9/11 attacks happen in the first place.
  • A Republican President told us that the right way to fight terrorism was to simultaneously go to war and (for those of us at home) to ignore the war and the costs and keep shopping. Which we did.
  • A Republican President talked about Osama Bin Laden but left his sitting in his cave while we invaded a totally different, uninvolved country.
  • A Republican President is the one who urged us to war with guarantees of how cheap, quick and easy it would be.
  • A Republican administration and Congress are the ones who ignored the costs and preparation to actually fight the war. Armored HUMV's, anyone? Body armor? Troop levels? That lack of follow through (and disagreement with the advice of Generals) led to many injuries.
  • The Republican party continues to harp about being fiscally responsible yet they used old-school McCarthyism to ram through budget after budget to pay the increasing costs of the way - entirely with borrowed money. They even added to the debt with tax cuts.
  • A Republican administration consciously hid the costs on lives and tax dollars because they knew that if citizens had to face the costs now (a war tax or a draft), their war would be unpopular.
  • A  Republican administration ignored the VA and did little to help returning soldiers. There are repeated scandals at Walter Reed Medical Center and other places that serve the medical needs of soldiers.

That is a short summary of Republican accomplishments on behalf of military families and the nation. It seems obvious to me that the Nation and its Republican leadership has told the military to suck it.

Even so, soldiers vote Republican. The entire nation re-elected the same Republicans in 2004 for 4 more years of war. ("Its not safe to change the Commander in Chief during wartime.)

The people who have borne the brunt of the war are the same people that re-elected the officials who put that burden on them. How does that make sense?

Well you asked for it

I feel terrible about this war and its costs to our country. Face it, no one really gave a shit about Iraq or Afghanistan in the first place yet we have bet the farm on it. Its like we spend our children's college fund on magic beans and we dont even like beans.

But I feel conflicted when I think about the military. It sickens me that we put this burden on our soldiers and refused to even give them decent health care in the VA system but those same soldiers asked for it. They voted for it. They dug in their heels, turned Fox News into a political force, defended the President, said they could win this mission and asked for more. They re-enlisted and served more tours.

Most of all, they failed to speak out publicly when it mattered. It is hard for me to feel sorry for that. I understand the visceral desire to support your buddies in harms way but our Democracy is totally broken if the people who know best keep silent.

Even though they represent 1% of the voters, if soldiers came back and spoke out about what it was like, if they criticized the people that put them there, it would have a huge political impact. People seem to accept the lie that Democrats are not patriotic or strong, but how does that criticism hold up against actual solders? Especially when none of the President, Vice President and their top advisors served in combat. ITs one thing to call John Kerry a coward decades ago in Vietnam; its another thing to say that to Iraqi vet and amputee.

This country is a Democracy but democracy does not work unless people participate.

As frustrated as I am with voters inability to hold Republican's accountable for their actions, I still feel sorry for military families. Most people join the military because they consider it their best option. It is a steady job with benefits like health care; it is a way to pay for college; it is a tradition of service. This silent war has been a lot more than many of them asked for or expected. Thousands of families with have to cope with deaths; many more thousands of families will face a lifetime of therapy or mental issues caused by this war.

the costs

War really is hell. Even if people are too dense to empathize with soldiers, war is still unpopular when the burden is shared.

Hey voters, would you like to pay a thousand Billion Dollars of new taxes to pay for war so far? Uhh, when you say it that way, not so popular.

How about several thousand Billion Dollars to pay for the future health care of all those wounded, but not dead, soldiers? Not popular.

Given how expensive war is on a nation, it is rather amazing that we have been at this for a decade with so little to show for it. It is also amazing how little we really talk about the war and what it is costing us. Ross Perot ran for president largely in opposition to the economic costs of NAFTA and free trade. No one wants to talk about the costs of this war.

In terms of lives, the casualties of this war are astonishingly few. Remember that 100,000 people die in car accidents every single year - no headlines or hand-wringing about that. With roughly 15,000 casualties from 9/11 and the wars, deaths will not be significant for the nation as a whole.

The real cost of this war will be financial. Those tax dollars that we hear so much about from politicians; politicians who show no restraint in actually spending and promising said dollars. This war will cost several thousand Billion tax dollars (that is several trillion Dollars) -- all of which have been borrowed and will need to be repayed with future taxes.

The other real cost is prestige and our standing in the world of Nations. We were the World's super power. Now we are just a guy with a big army; an army that has been unable to defeat Al Qaeda after a decade. A country that hates muslims. A country that talks about freedom but continues to install and reward corrupt politicians in an (apparent) attempt to create US-friendly puppet regimes.

Let's face it, Osama Bin Laden has won. It is incredibly cheap to create terrorist attacks. Our clumsy, irrational response has been incredibly expensive, from the wars to the TSA. And our failure to achieve our publicly stated goals (remember when we were going to "smoke them out" of caves?) is a continual embarrassment and encouragement to our enemies. Osama hit our pocket book, our reputation and our way of life. He poked us with a stick and made us look like an ineffectual, ignorant bully. He punched us in the nose and we pulled out a gun and shot the guy standing next him in the face.

now what?

War is hell. It is costly in human lives and treasure. Anyone with half a brain would take a deep breath and consider the ramifications BEFORE starting a war. Too late for that.

At this point we should all be spending a lot more time reflecting on this war and how we will be paying for it. We cannot undo the past but what should we do next?

Do we really care more about Afghanistan and Pakistan than we care about Grandma's health care?

Do the last ten years really reflect American values? Or American interests in the 21st Century?

This decade of politics and war will be a seminal point in world history. Vietnam also lasted about a decade but it has yet to leave American consciousness. I predict that we will look back at what it cost us and wonder how the @#$% it happened and how it went on so long.

so long, Lou

Now that you have been fired, CNN will have a chance to restore their reputation as a reputable news source instead of the MTV of news.

And you will have lots of time to find Obama's birth certificate.

It's a win-win situation.

Lou Dobbs Leaves CNN

By SAM SCHECHNER

Wall Street Journal

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Lou Dobbs, a CNN anchor known for his strong views on immigration, said his show Wednesday was his last for the cable-news network.

"With characteristic forthrightness, Lou has now decided to carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere," CNN/US President Jon Klein said in a statement, adding the network will miss his "megawatt smile and larger than life presence."

Obama wins peace prize for war in Iraq and Afghanistan

This week I listened to part of Obama's acceptance speech for the Nobel peace prize.

I thought it was very strange when he won the award. Listening to his speech, largely defending the use of force, I wondered if any of those judges now regret their vote.

At the time, it was said they they gave him the award as a recognition of change from President Bush/Cheney. As in, "thank God America has a new president". As in, "the biggest accomplishment for world peace is getting rid of Bush/Cheney."

But whatever change Obama has made in military terms has been, shall we say, subtle. I am not very knowledgeable in this area but as a casual observer, like most American's, I dont see much change.

We are still spending a fortune (of borrowed money) on military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We still talk about "surges" and armored vehicles, and bombs, and the burden on our troops of being deployed for almost a decade now.

We still describe our desire to meddle in those two countries (as well as Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and India) as a national security priority.

We still talk about terrorism as a military problem and not a police problem.

Eight years. It is really rather amazing how long this thing has dragged on and how little we seem to have learned from 9/11.

We have a new president but American policy and thinking about international relations still seems like the same old, same old.

Years ago, I heard the idea that some conservatives believed the only way to end the so-called "welfare state" was to bankrupt the state. Bush/Cheney made a lot of progress on that financial goal and our banking bailouts continue the progress.

Lately I wonder if the same argument can be made about our military spending. The only way to really change our dependence on using military force for all problems is to bankrupt the government. I wonder how long it will take to find out.

priceless

You remember those Visa commercials? The ones with the punchline "Priceless"?

Those commercials were designed to make you feel better about an industry that has been reviled as far back as the Bible (and rightly so), but they did have a good message.

Want to know what I think is priceless about living in the USA? The rule of law.

I regularly hear people, generally conservative folks, whine and complain about paying taxes and it just gets me mad. How ignorant! How selfish! Some people have no idea how good we have it here. I know it is natural to take something for granted until you lose it but still.

How can folks be so ungrateful for the quality of life we have here at a time when we pay all this attention on Iraq and Afghanistan? What do people think we are trying to do over there? We are trying to create the rule of law. Look how hard that is and then think about how much we take for granted here and shouldnt.

We have the big stuff here.

  • I am 40 years old and I have never been in fear of my life from my government or my police.
  • No one I know of has ever been visited in the middle of the night and "disappeared" by a policeman or government official.
  • I dont see military grade weapons on the street or soldiers in the neighborhood and neither do my children.
  • The only time military jets fly overhead is for Fleet Week and air shows and they never drop bombs.
  • Bombings are almost unheard of.
  • I have never had to shoot at anyone or known anyone that has been shot.
  • I can walk around my neighborhood day or night without fear of being murdered or kidnapped.
  • When I go to the office, I do not have to worry that my wife and daughter will be alive when I get home.

Those are the big things and they are priceless. They are also things that happen because of the rule of law.

In this country, we solve our disputes with lawyers. Life is not perfect but we do not solve our problems with an AK47 or explosives nor do we have to resort to bribes and kidnapping to make a living.

And we also have the little stuff.

  • All homes have sanitation and most have sewers, running water, heat and 24/7 electricity.
  • The roads are all passable and most have curbs and sidewalks.
  • The streets arent littered with dead animals or trash.
  • And if you have a problem, you can pick up the phone and get help.

Because we have the basic rule of law here, we can use our tax money to provide these other niceties of life which are also priceless.

The irony is that we get to sit around and complain about paying taxes simply because we have it so damn good. We are rich because there is almost no fear in our lives. We live with a level of luxury and peace that billions of people want for themselves. And we barely appreciate it.

why?

Yesterday morning I woke up to the news that 4 police had been murdered.

Today I woke up to the news that the suspected shooter had been found and shot dead.

First off, I hoped that they got the right person.

Second, I asked myself why. Why would that guy have murdered these 4 policemen he did not even know?

And that seems to be the theme of recent news. Why? Why did he/they do it?

Israel wants to prosecute some 900 year old guy from Ohio for alleged crimes in a Nazi concentration camp during WW2. Why did we murder so many families in those camps?

Cambodia is prosecuting some guy there for similar war crimes by the Khymer Rouge. Why did Cambodians turn on each other and murder half their countrymen?

A while back, a 16 year old girl in Richmond, CA was brutally raped by a group of men outside her high school - and no one called the police or stopped it. This morning there was a radio story on Richmond, CA as a former resident asked how this had happened in his hometown. I actually lived and worked in Richmond for a time and when I first heard the story all I could think about is why this happened and what those men were thinking.

Why are human beings so inhuman to each other?

From acts of individual violence to systemic violence and genocide, why do we do it? I dont have any answers. I just find myself shaking my head and asking why.