Archive for June, 2005
Fictional Reality
What a curious world we live in where reality and fiction blend together so easily. How can one keep them straight? Consider these few examples:
(1) Marijuana: Every scientific study ever conducted on the subject concludes that marijuana is no more harmful than alcohol or nicotine. No one has ever died of overdosing on marijuana (unlike alcohol), and there are no physical addictive qualities (like nicotine). Many studies go even further and cite significant health benefits for the drug. Even so, our national policy still follows the path first established in the early 1900’s when marijuana was criminalized due to its association with Mexican immigrants. Millions of dollars are spent each year prosecuting and imprisoning people (mostly young black men) for possession and sale of marijuana. Faced with the reality of the relative harmlessness of the drug, why do we still believe the fictional justification for criminalization?
(2) Safe Sex & Abortion: It is no secret that people (especially young people) enjoy sex. This is a biological reality, and rather necessary for the healthy propagation of the species. As we all know, sex can have unintended consequences. Sexual activity can spread some pretty nasty diseases. Sometimes a woman will get pregnant when she’s not prepared to be a mother. Both of these unfortunate consequences can easily be minimized by practicing safe sex. Yet in the fictional reality spun by our political leaders, it makes more sense to gloss over safe sex and instead tell young people to abstain entirely. What’s worse is that this idiotic approach actually increases the frequency of abortions because more young girls get pregnant when they are uninformed about how to avoid pregnancies.
(3) Gay Marriage: There was a time when marriage was between a man a woman and the woman became the man’s property. This was the accepted norm and any deviation from the system was seen as sacrilege and destined to undo civilization itself. Then times changed, woman began to slowly accumulate rights, and the earth somehow managed to keep from spiraling into the sun. There was a time when marriage was between a white man and a white woman, and the idea that people of two different races could wed was seen as sacrilege and destined to undo civilization itself. Again, times changed and interracial marriage became not-so-scarey and, lo and behold we’re still here to talk about it. Right now, marriage is defined as one man and one woman and the idea that two men or two women could fall in love and get married has a lot of people fearing for the second coming of Christ. And yet, when the history books are written, this chapter will close much the same as the last two. Men will marry other men, women will marry other women, and civilization will live happily ever after. Even so, one can’t escape the fictional arguments presented by the Christian Conservatives as to why we must resist this natural evolution of marriage at all costs. Do these people read history books? Do they realize how stupid they’ll sound in 10 years?
Well, there you have it. Three prime examples of a pretty obvious reality clouded by the fictional world of politics. What does it take to break through?
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jun 28th, 2005
We Told You So ?
Less than a year after Bush’s reelection, a majority of Americans now understand that the administration is lying about the progress in Iraq. [See WashPost poll]
It really makes me wonder: What was this majority thinking last November?! Was Bush so much more believable a few months ago? No. Was the situation in Iraq significantly better back then? No. I propose a much more frightening answer to this question: Our media has failed us.
Consider: The truth is a hard thing to conceal forever. But in the short-term timeframe of election season, it was very easy for Karl Rove and the boys to fill the national dialogue with enough fluff to distract voters from the truth. With Fox News working 24 hours a day for the Bush administration and the rest of our national media sources too scared to report anything controversial, enough voters were uninformed or confused when they went to the polls.
Now that the absurdities of election season are over, the truth is ever so slowly beginning to emerge. Turns out everything is not honkey-dorey in Iraq. The insurgents aren’t becoming any weaker, nor is Iraq becoming any more secure. Our troops and Iraqi civilians continue to die, with no end in sight. This is precisely the same scenario we faced in November 2004. There has been no significant change. Our national media failed in reporting the truth and now we are paying the consequences.
The only silver lining is that Bush has already lost whatever momentum he had coming out of his reelection. He’s begun to quarrel with Congress and has failed to deliver most of his campaign promises. I just hope that in these next three years the media can find a spine and read up on how to do real journalism. Because in 2009 I don’t want to have to say it again: “We told you so!”
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jun 27th, 2005
Hoover Dam
The other night I watched a very informative History Channel special about the Hoover Dam. I never really knew too much about the story of its construction and it really impressed me. The federal government managed to build the largest dam in the history of man (at the time) in the middle of a desert during the Great Depression. It cost millions of dollars and hundreds of lives, but by god they got it done. Neat.
Now consider our generation. We just finished up the most prosperous decade in our little nation’s history (that being the 90’s) and we have absolutely nothing to show for it. No major building projects, no adventures in space, nothing to rally a nation around. What a squandered opportunity. Please consider:
After September 11 (2001), Americans were ready for anything. We were united around the tragedy of a terrorist attack on our own soil and we were ready and willing to really change things. What if, instead of embarking on a two-prong quagmire of a war in the middle east, the President instead issued a challenge: to reduce our dependency on foreign oil by half in a decade.
Ambitious, to be sure. And there would be skeptics. But I believe in my heart of hearts that the American people could have been very easily persuaded that it was a worthwhile endeavor and we would have been willing and eager to make the necessary changes. Remember the Victory Gardens during WWII? Imagine a campaign such as “Freedom Busses” or “Patriot-Bicycles”. There is no question that a determined administration could concoct enough propaganda and drum up enough enthusiasm to get people to really think about how to reduce fuel needs.
But instead, we blew it. We went in the opposite direction–think “Support Our Troops” ribbons on the back of SUVs. Today we’re even more dependent on an increasingly tight supply of foreign oil to run our country and our economy. We blew it!
By the time we get around to embracing a philosophy of conservation it may already be too late.
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jun 17th, 2005
Libertarians?
With the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on medical marijuana, I’ve learned a little more about my political beliefs and persuasions. Frequent readers might remember this post regarding gun control. Just as then, I’m a little surprised by my inner monologue. Who would have guessed that I’ve got a little libertarian in me?
“Libertarian?!” You might ask. “Aren’t those the wackos who want to strip the federal government of most of its powers and drop the nation dangerously close to anarchy?” Well, yes and no. Please, allow for some further explanation:
In the 90’s, with Democrats in control (sort of) and agreeable legislation passing through Congress, I thought that a strong government was a pretty neat thing. A big, powerful federal government can do great things like protect the environment, supply social aid to people at home and abroad, and generally work towards bettering America. When your party is in power, big government is a big party!
Starting in 1994 with the Republican takeover of the House and continuing through the present, Democrats have been losing wherever and whenever possible. The current leadership is made up of socially conservative religious fundamentalists with whom I disagree over just about every policy issue. Needless to say, I’m no happy with what my government is doing.
The current administration is using big government to wage wars in the Middle East, bankrupt America’s future, deny women of their reproductive rights, outlaw same-sex unions, destroy the middle class, and generally divide our nation over as many issues as possible.
I’ve learned an important lesson from this massive takeover of my beloved country: The same big Hand that helps you one day can smack you square on the nose the next. The only sure way to safeguard against misappropriation of our government’s power and our tax revenue is to deny the government such overreaching power.
The crux of the problem is that only the losers believe it’s a good idea. There was a time when the Right clamored for small government. Now that they’re in power, those ideas have been forgotten. Likewise, when Democrats controlled Congress and had the power to change the rules, they were greedy with power and made no attempts.
The Libertarian ideals are not an ideal solution–they are practical. In a nation as large and divided as America, a powerful federal government will never act in the best interest of all citizens. State and local control is much more effective at responding to the needs of the local citizens.
And now for the oil tie-in: As we run out of cheap oil in the coming years, production of goods and especially of food will have to become much more localized. We simply won’t be able to ship food and junk around the globe to take advantage of cheap labor when the cheap oil is gone. Along with a drive to localize our industrial production, why not localize our government?
…
(Imagine the shock when I discovered that I secretly harbored a desire for a small federal government. I sound like a Republican circa 1990!)
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jun 15th, 2005
The Boy Who Cried “Environmental Collapse”
It was brought to my attention by an old, wise man that a lot of the fears I’ve been sharing through this website are old hat. The environmental movement of the 1970’s warned of impending doom, mass starvation, and general collapse of the environment. 35 years later, we’re still here and the situation actually looks a little better (depending on how you’re measuring).
It’s tempting to use these earlier false warnings to dismiss the fears of people like me. Yet it seems foolhardy to assume that we can continue on our path all honkey-dory for much longer. One lifetime ago, we transitioned to the car-dominated culture of mass production. Half a lifetime ago, we started down the path of globalization. I’m worried what I’ll find in my lifetime–which is to say nothing of my children’s and their children’s.
Please don’t put too much faith in the hopes that the current warnings will fall short just as those from the 1970’s did. There is simply too much at stake.
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jun 6th, 2005
