Cheaters and Prospering
I didn't think about it until the New England Patriots got into the Superbowl and every sports columnist with 100 words at his disposal spouted about how the Patriots were proof that cheaters DO prosper. The quick response to that idea is "yeh, they probably do, and more than we know, because the good cheaters don't get caught," but there is more to it than that. When you look at the Bush administration, when you look at their manipulation of the elections, their rejiggering of the courts and district attorney offices around the country, their lying about foreign policy... need I go on? When you look at all that crapola, one could readily conclude, cheaters do prosper. But I think there is another way of looking at it which is perhaps too Pollyanna-ish a response, but one which need be looked at with critical eyes. When I think of the Bush administration in abstracted form, I see the United States in its purest form. Bush is to American politics what Las Vegas is to America. There ain't nothing more American than Vegas; it's like Kansas with 'roid rage. When you go there, you might have had a great time, but you leave and thank your lucky stars you don't live there all the time. Not just that, you come to realize you can't live the high life constantly or you will go broke and die a drunkard.Bush policies are just like. Once we have had the advantage of a little perspective, we will come to realize this grotesque cheating is not a good thing. More to the point, American greed, while part of the American character for certain, when unchecked, greed is toxic. Bush's policies, domestic and abroad, have proven toxic. We are in a recession, despite the government's loud protestations. The dollar can buy penny candy in Europe and not much else. Our foreign policy leaves death and poverty in its wake. Sensibly minded folk are getting the picture.So, yeh, Bush and his cronies are making money hand over fist, but what is left when they are gone? I think what's left is a wiser US. We will look at the the cheating, the lying, the manipulation, and we will decide, just like we did after our Vegas trip, that we don't want to continue living in this way. The clearest indication of this is the explosion in "green" everything. Green buiding, green energy, green you-name-it. The public, and that is the only opinion that has ever mattered, thinks it is time to cut back. Prius cars are the rage. Solar energy is the rage. Wind power is the rage. Hydrogen cars are about to explode. Organic produce. Chemical free farming, chickens, beef, vegetables... and so on. The country is coming to the conclusion it wishes to be toxic no more. This is not to say the American character is changed for the better as a result of the Bush over-indulgences. No, it is a political pendulum swing, just like other swings that have happened over the last two hundred and thirty some odd years. Americans will remain greedy. Americans will continue to over-indulge. Americans will forever be self-righteous in their foreign policy. What we need to do is somehow link in the minds of Americans the idea that it is greedy to be green. I think that is possible. There is a long discussion about how this can be so, but for brevity sake, I will skip it. Suffice to say, it makes economic sense to buy green. And I don't mean it makes sense for the country overall or in the long run or anything like that. I mean, if Joe Blow goes green, he will have more money in his pocket than if he didn't go green. Bush and his Patriot co-horts have awakened the American conscience. Americans have had their fill of being the bad guy. More importantly, it isn't working for the average Joe. He's in foreclosure or just hanging on by his fingertips or feeling the financial pinch in some way, most likely at the gas pump. So, if you can be a good guy and get money to do it, hell, that's the most American notion in the world. I think it is an idea we can sell to the American public. The fact we might save the planet as a result is merely a happy by-product.