Five good reasons why the decline of the United States is nigh

[dArKeR]

By Jeffrey Sachs

Saturday, Apr 03, 2004,Page 9

The first anniversary of the war in Iraq has arrived, and America's reputation continues to sink. One year ago, the US tried to bully the world into supporting an unprovoked war, claiming that anybody who did not believe in Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was either a fool or an accomplice of terrorists.

Now we know that the US government and its few allies were themselves either fools or liars.

But this has not stopped the Bush administration's thuggish behavior.

The US could be a great force for good. Studies like one by the World Health Organization's Commission on Macroeconomics and Health show that with an US$11-trillion annual national income, the US could finance the control of AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and many other killer diseases for a small fraction of the money it wastes in Iraq.

Instead, US financial assistance to the world's poverty-stricken countries as a share of national income is the lowest of any donor country.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/04/03/2003116520

[w4rma]

1. We're trying to fix that Bush/Republican problem right now.

After that is done, things should get better quickly.

[Kazak]

2. Until what...tbe next time?

Damn good editorial though.

:scared:

[In Sha Allah]

5. But then we'll have a Kerry/Democrat problem to fix.

Things won't get better quickly for everyone. I don't think a Kerry administration will be as good as the Clinton administration, and let's face it: The Clinton administration did far more harm to Native Americans and African Americans than good.

So what's Kerry going to do for the Indians? Why should they vote for him? Imagine a penniless Micmac starving in a camper in northern Maine, moaning in pain because of a toothache - what does HE care who sits in the White House? Regardless of the candidate, that Micmac gets screwed harder year after year no matter who is in charge.

What's he going to do about all the African American men in jail on drug charges? Let them all go free? What about all of the ones who have served their time and now get to spend the rest of their lives as 3rd-class citizens doomed to crappy jobs, taxation without representation, poor health, and a shortened lifespan? Is he going to do anything for them?

What does Kerry plan to do about slavery in America? There are hundreds of thousands of honest-to-God slaves in this country's prisons, brothels, basements, and sweat shops. How will getting Bush out of office help them?

And the plight of the GLBT community - If their situation improves it won't be because of anything Kerry will do.

And what about Americans with ties to Venezuela? Why should they pick Kerry over Bush? Both will allow American NGOs and elements of the Federal government to continue trying to overthrow Hugo Chavez, a democratically elected leader. Why should an American of Venezuelan descent give a fig about replacing Bush with Kerry? Either way, his grandparents and cousins will have to endure oppression from a new ultra-right-wing government installed by people from the USA.

The list goes on and on...

Of course Kerry is better than Bush. Nobody with an ounce of sense will dispute that. But life will NOT improve for vast segments of America just because Bush is out, and for some of them it will get worse. Nobody even dreamed that more black men would be imprisoned under Clinton's watch than under Reagan and Bush Sr.'s reigns combined. The slave trade - particularly the (by some estimates) hundreds of thousands of sex-slaves - exploded in America while the Democrats were in power. Regardless of the administration, the BIA cruelly rips off millions of American citizens.

If Kerry is going to be a Great Leader, he's going to have to do more than just be an alternative to Bush. He's going to have to resolve issues that have been glossed over by his party for years, and he'll have to endure tremendous political heat from both sides of the aisle to get it done. He's going to have to force a nation-wide change to sustainable energy sources. He's going to have to cut air and water pollution to near-zero. He's going to have to completely re-craft our country's foreign policy into something that isn't indirectly and directly responsible for the deaths of millions. He's going to have to lead the fight to strip corporations of their political power. He's going to have to scrap the electoral college system so the lunatic right only has as much political power as it has proponents. He's going to have to re-enfranchise millions upon millions of convicted felons, and he's going to have to do all of that at once, because the Dark Age so many of us have had to endure for so long is due to start for everybody else in America in about 10 or 15 years.

[teryang]

3. Inflexible ruling class and unresponsive govt

...have more to do with our decline than anything else. With the same old dogmatic idiots doing the same thing they've always done to preserve their interest at the expense of democracy, the Constitution and the welfare of the people, the results aren't going to be pretty. We've pretty much got an 18th Century European style aristocracy in a severe reaction trying to preserve their social and economic positions at the expense of the nation.

Unresponsive and unconstitutional government means inability to adapt. Corporations need to be stripped of their priveleged status under the law. They need to be driven out of the halls of Congress and the election process. They need to be taxed again. They need to be regulated for the public good. They need to get the death penalty when they do grievous economic harm. The people of this country are being enslaved to the purposes of the corporate boardroom.

We are moribound nation burdened by debt and unequal social and economic obligations to support the almighty private corporation and their elite owners.

[Tru Believer]

4. Why Do We Need To Follow

Why are we so infatuated with sides? People always need tobe led. Can't you all just think for yourselves instead of buying into this bolony these "leaders" feed us? We are the 99% being led by the 1%. Seems wrong! Think for yourselves. And your eyes will open.

[newyawker99]

6. Hi Tru Believer!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: