Email this page to a friend

Who has time for such naivete? 

Mark A. Goldman                                                                    Dated: 4/26/06
                                                                                              

 

All this talk about bombing Iran might not be about nuclear weapons at all. Notice that Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela all have/had one thing in common: none of them wants/wanted to trade oil for dollars anymore. In the case of Venezuela, they've partly gone to a barter system... bypassing dollars by trading oil directly for goods and services.

If more countries begin trading oil in euros or other currencies, this will have serious repercussions for the US economy... perhaps more serious than anything you've seen in your lifetime. Some have suggested that this is the main reason we went into Iraq in the first place. I don't argue the point. It's always been about oil... but how oil trades might be the most important issue. We might be able to delay it for a little while, but the trading of oil in euros on a major exchange is probably inevitable.

The truth is, we have convinced ourselves that because we are now so dependent on oil, even the oil under other people's soil should belong to us. And because we can get away with it, we choose war and terrorism to secure our supplies. Our strategic terrorism is not something we talk about. In the reality of the Bush league, anyone who seeks to challenge American supremacy--economic or otherwise--is evil and must be destroyed. It's a deadly dead end road, with too many dead already piled up along the curb.

The central issue is not complicated. The American strategy now is centered on trying to RULE the world through fear and intimidation. LEADING the world towards a reality of true brotherhood and sustainability is what we need. But that sounds like idealism. Who has time for such naivete? Right?

So we focus instead on policy issues rather than on the forgotten critical issue, which is:   who are we and what do we stand for, as individuals and as a people?

What we need is a fundamental paradigm shift.

If Americans no longer care about or understand why it's important to defend the rule of law, then we might as well just keep on doing what we're doing: and that means, we might as well do nothing, which is the preferred strategy of the Democratic party.

The leadership of both parties have given us a precedent: criminals in business and in government can get away with murder, treason, and other high crimes if they are powerful enough and if their crimes are big enough.

So far, our response as citizens tends toward one of two attitudes: 1) "as long as it doesn't effect me personally, I just don't have time for this." or 2) "You're right. I'm going to vote for the other party next time." (In my view, the second attitude is simply a more subtle version of the first.)

The American Experiment, which is an experiment in social justice and personal responsibility, is on the brink.

If we don't change course, even if the Democrats win both houses next election, we still won't leave Iraq and it's doubtful that anyone will be impeached, even though there will be a lot of noise on both fronts. Why? Neither party will decide to leave Iraq in the end, because in the end it's all about oil, money, and domination... and once they are on top, money and power will look as interesting to Democrats as they now do to Republicans.

Do you think Democrats or Republicans are going to just pack up and leave the oil fields to the Iraqis--to nationalize them all over again--now that we've reorganized them to suit our own needs?

We can't move into a hopeful future until we begin taking responsibility for our tarnished past, which is something NO elected representative, NO political party, and few Americans appear willing to do.

If you are interested in living in a nation with other enlightened, freedom loving people; if you are interested in world peace; in a sustainable strategy for living on planet Earth; if you want to give your children a fighting chance, we're surely going to have to do a lot better than this.
.
It's no longer a matter of not knowing how...

http://www.gpln.com/simplenoteasy.htm
http://www.gpln.com/savingamerica.htm

It's a matter of not having the will or the courage to try.

Return to Commentaries