[Cross-posted at The Left Coaster.]
Even in these terrible times (watching the horribly exploited citizens of Ferguson having US Army rifles pointed at them by clueless punks certainly qualifies as terrible) the dimensions of my political dismay have tripped far beyond the normal worried to the horribly acute, it seems ordinary confusion and uncertainty are now perfectly valid reasons for war.
Obama has no strategy for the Middle East! As always, some rhetorical trap emerges from the right-wing superfund swamp of Fox News that somehow embarrasses and makes the President and Democratic Party uncomfortable, worried that they’ll be classified as National Security Kitties again they fearfully match the rhetoric or even escalate it.
It’s amazing how clueless the DC political and media culture actors are from the views of those watching their bombastic antics from afar, my God what are these shouting chickens ranting about now? ISIS? How is it that something nobody had heard of 12 months ago now has the power to be Super Scary Monsters that warrant war? Another war, are you serious?
Jesus. Is ISIS a government, a country? Ah, no, a band of vicious pipsqueaks we are stupidly entwined with, silly citizens we all are, why, we thought actual countries with actual governments could trip serious threat levels. Still, violent idiots who conveniently have never been in battle themselves with a history of stupid inaccuracy are still given a media platform to rant away for war. Sure enough, scared Democrats feel trapped and all of sudden “advisors” are on the way, bombing runs begin and drone strikes initiated.
There’s a perfectly valid and easy strategy for ISIS and the Middle East, every little people American knows it: get the hell out of there. Oh so we’re addicted to oil, can we stop that? Not only can we, we have to because of global warming, simply stop burning oil for fuel.
A real American hero and leader, Elon Musk, just announced plans for a super-factory to produce auto batteries, the stories say it means the electric drive train will be competitive with gasoline. We can easily technically get out of the Middle East, instead of building new aircraft carriers ($12 billion for the latest) we could be building new battery factories and coastal wind farms!
But no. As always, stupid and weasel rationalizations rankly waft forth as to why we have to keep burning oil and why we have to stay shackled to that trillion dollar sinkhole of hell in the Middle East. The truth is that greedy and violent society insiders have a total chokehold on our national security apparatus and outlook on the Middle East, they like the insanity of endless war and global warming, that’s the status quo being shoved down the throats of the little people this fine September American morning. Another dawn of war.
And by God and baby Jesus when they snap their fingers in that compressed DC media and political funhouse even Senators Warren and Franken go running for the cover of Doing Something, never mind the insane futile violence that has delivered nothing but a trillion dollar turd of failure and horror for the little people. Carry on, DC, your proven record of prudence and success is so reassuring in the Middle East, yes.
Anticipating the ranting and fear mongering in response I’m relentlessly reminded lately of the great American intellect and writer Amanda Marcotte, she’s aptly proven that the arguments against abortion are all made in bad faith, meaning the religious liberty and sanctity of life claptrap is bull and the yapping perpetrators know it’s ridiculous lying, but the terrible DC media environment still allows those elements as vicious rhetorical clubs so those lying actors can get what they want.
The same is becoming blindingly true to the little people in the US who simply want peace and jobs and a free country that really works, after enough time all the ranting the threats of fear—ISIS, Al Queda, Chemical Syria--become common plain bullshit, none of these awful calls for more violence will ever actually lead to any element of peace or security. What these sickening harbingers of violence want is the status quo of endless war and filthy emissions to stay brutally in place.
Even they know the violence is ultimately futile, but in their twisted political bubbles short-term it pays off, sort of, so they continue. Everyone knows it’s ludicrous fantasy and dishonesty, but fear and violence are old and very effective human levers.
Get out of the Middle East to stop global warming, that is the only strategy available for America. Shut up about violence for once and actually look at what Ferguson is, solving that should be a top American mission, not building another $12 billion dollar aircraft carrier.