On the Contrary

Health care, the economy, and Afghanistan are those topics.  On health care, what is really wrong with the United States was on display in AARP meetings across the country.  AARP, that organization that represents those of us over 50, apparently, according to an article in the New York Times (A Heated Debate Is Dividing Generations in AARP) is trying to educate their members on why the public option is a good thing and sadly those that have Medicare don’t want to share it with others.  One member, Mr. Don Nichols, who is 85 and has had Medicare benefits for 20 years, responded that those who complain about insurance premiums becoming too expensive have only themselves to blame. “If they quit their smoking and drinking, they would be able to afford it,” Mr. Nichols responded out loud.  He would make a good Republican.  I got mine and screw you.  Note the blame thing also.  It tells you all you need to know about the upcoming debate.

On the economy, I listened to the financial gurus saying that if economic growth looks strong this next quarter, we may be out of the woods.  On what planet are these people living on?  When will we separate the stock market from the growing unemployment problem?   I really don’t think the economy is rocket science.  Ask yourself this:  What is it we make that we can sell to rest of the world that they want and will start the cash flowing again?  Right now that answer is nothing and the stuff we want is made somewhere else.  Until that changes, nothing else will.  Until we invest in ourselves with our government as a major partner, we are doomed to the backwater of the world economy.  Swoosh!  That was China going by us.

Then there is Afghanistan.  If you want to keep this discussion simple, then bottom line is we simply can’t afford it.  The money we are wasting trying to make the world safe for Afghans needs to be spent here at home to put us back on our feet after years and years of Republican market place neglect.  If you are looking for a more nuanced view, I suggest you read the interview that Rory Stewart gave to the Bill Moyers Journal. Mr. Stewart simply states that what we want to accomplish probably can’t be accomplished, that we have muddled objectives, and we have a mindset that failure is not an option, so we will throw more and more resources at the problem and set ourselves up for a full pull out in about five years when things are no better.  This is a gross oversimplification of his argument and I strongly urge you to read it.

Politically, he believes that President Obama has tied his own hands and will have to send more troops, but he should draw a line and say no more.  When the interviewer asked Mr. Stewart if he is listened to by say Secretary Clinton, who he has advised, here was his description which I think is truly insightful:

“They listen politely, but in the end, of course, basically the policy decision is made. What they would like is little advice on some small bit. I mean, the analogy that one of my colleagues used recently is this: it’s as though they come to you and they say, “We’re planning to drive our car off a cliff. Do we wear a seatbelt or not?” And we say, “Don’t drive your car off the cliff.” And they say, “No, no, no. That decision’s already made. The question is should we wear our seatbelts?” And you say, “Why by all means wear a seatbelt.” And they say, “Okay, we consulted with policy expert, Rory Stewart,” et cetera”.

His best advice goes like this:

“My advice to President Obama is, you’re going to have to increase troops now. It’s too late for you, because you’re going to be destroyed politically if you oppose your general on the ground on something like this. But let’s think now six months, a year down the line. We’re going to have to decrease again. We can’t keep these numbers indefinitely. Cap it. Don’t go up any further. That’s it. If the military come back in six months and say, “By the way, we’d like another 50,000, another 60,000.” No. Say, “This is all you’re going to get. And furthermore, this is all you’re going to get, and the numbers are going to decrease.” Force the military to work out what they’re going to do with less. This isn’t an ideological point. It’s just a fact. They’re going to have less in two years, three years, five years than they have today. So, let’s try to frame the policy that works out what we can do to protect the United States and help the Afghan people with fewer troops. And hopefully, that’ll mean we can have a long-term sustainable relationship, instead of this boom and bust, in and out, that I fear is coming.”

So how are these related?  They all show how we are in denial about our real status and we are unwilling to work together to solve our problems.  In health care we like to say we are the biggest, richest country in the world and we can do anything if we put our minds to it.  But in fact, as Mr. Nichols demonstrated, we are just selfish little people who are hanging on to what they have with all their might, denying the reality of how that hurts everyone else.  We still live in some dream world where if Wall Street is doing okay, then the jobs will just follow, denying the reality of the suffering out there.  And of course in Afghanistan, we still think we can do anything if we just send in a few more Marines as though we could afford to do that or it would work.  Like an addict, until we face the reality of how far we have fallen, we will not accept our limitations and start to get better.