Let's "celebrate" the elimination of Osama bin Laden by taking some dramatic new actions in America and abroad. How about bringing our people and money home from Afghanistan (and other places?) and using those resources to "rebuild America"? The devastation shown below wasn't done by a "war" per se—at least not one that was waged by enemy nations.
This was done by a different kind of war; one that was waged by misguided unions, by foolish government policies, by weak or wrong-thinking management and by neglect, negligence and stupidity. But the destruction and desolation is equal to that done by any war. Of course we'll need to be vigilant and watch for reprisals and attacks by the remainder of al Qaeda. It would be surprising if there were not some kind of retaliation.
However, we claim to be rebuilding Afghanistan–but while we are doing it, America continues to decay. That's just wrong! Our soldiers are acting as social workers, but dodging bullets and IEDs in the process. The Afghani people–a huge majority of them (I've read 85%+) have no idea why we are there. Most of them don't care either; they'll gladly take our money and go back to doing things the way they have for decades–or centuries. But they'd really rather see us leave—or at least those called the "Taliban" (Is that Afghani for "public employee unions"). They're the ones who shoot at us and try to blow us up.
This photo montage is from DETROIT, MI, USA—not some war torn Middle Eastern city. You can find scenes like these Detroit pictures in many of America's older, inner cities, where industries and jobs have departed, taking hope, prosperity and opportunity with them. Just take a train ride and look what lies along the tracks–the decaying remnants of America's industrial might.
Our President (if it suits his campaign strategy) might visit these ruins once in a while, after which he will make an impassioned speech (not from his heart; from his teleprompter) about how sad it is. He'll promise how he can fix everything, if he can just tax the rich "millionaires and billionaires" and then use "Big Brother" government to take care of everything (with your taxes).
If President Obama could tax the so-called rich—millionaires and billionaires—at 100%, take all of their money; it wouldn't even cover the deficit in his proposed 2102 budget. To pay for the level of spending he is proposing, taxes will need to be increased on Middle-Class Americans–not only the "millionaires and billionaires."
And we are spending billions to rescue Libya, rebuild Afghanistan and force democracy into Iraq–and to what end? So we can impose on them our idea of the ideal society, capitalism and Democracy. Don't let them watch our TV, or go see our movies. They will wonder what kind of an "ideal society" we want to impose on them.
When a couple of movies deal with reasonable, decent, human topics, they win Academy Awards (voted on by the same aforementioned, commingled "herd") e.g, The President's Speech, The Fighter, True Grit. How do you discourage the crap on the media? Same as with anything undesirable–don't buy it, don't watch it, and boycott the sponsors who pay for it to be broadcast. There used to be commissions on decency in broadcast media–but Cable TV neutered them.
How do you rebuild America? Stop trying to rebuild, bribe and reform other countries' societies and governments. Then quit wasting our precious resources on outdated or foolish spending like agricultural subsidies, ethanol subsidies, and dozens of redundant government agencies. Let's begin the process of rebuilding America by cleaning out the "terrorism of government wastefulness." Let's start investing our precious resources here at home.
Our military is neither a group of social workers, or tour guides for government officials. It is supposed to "provide for the common defense"—of the United States of America. Let's suggest that our "NATO "allies" invest a much larger segment of their budgets into their militaries, so we don't have to support every intervention that comes up
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IF THE ECONOMY IS "GETTING BETTER," WHY DO OVER HALF OF VOTERS FEEL BAD?
02.22.2011– WORTHINGTON, OH – 53.0% of Registered Voters somewhat/strongly agree: "If everything with the economy is getting so much better, why do I feel so bad?" according to the latest American Pulse™ Survey of 5,214 respondents. Further, more than 7 in 10 Voters have little to no confidence that economic policy will help lower unemployment (76.2%) or get the economy back on track (72.4%). These sentiments could be swaying Voters to opt for new leadership in 2012:
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Let's back off on oppressive government regulations. The government and its regulatory agencies were intended to protect Americans not to persecute them. We don't need the EPA to interject itself in the place of Congress and attempt to promulgate around our legislative process and regulate CO2 emissions. We don't need the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) to interject itself and try to dictate to an American company that it cannot build its products in a different state. These are not the proper actions of a government "of the people, by the people and for the people."
Our taxes were intended to do those things the people couldn't do for themselves–not to "run everything." Taxes were not intended to fund dictatorial "czars" in the President's administration. Nor were they intended to do nation building in foreign lands—just because we think our way if better.
Somewhere, somehow, over the 200+ years, our country has gone off track. It will take tough, courageous, competent leadership to bring it back. There will be "pain" during the transition. Transitions are always painful, some more than others. The deeper the hole you have dug, the harder the climb out of it will be.
Now, with Osama bin Laden dead, let's celebrate that "victory" by taking the next few steps—and rebuilding America and bringing home our resources from foreign lands to help Americans. We would both recognize that and appreciate it far more than the Afghanis do.
John Mariotti is an internationally known executive and an award-winning author. His book, The Complexity Crisis was named one of 2008's Best Business Books. In his recently released novel, The Chinese Conspiracy he merges an exciting fictional thriller with the factual reality of America's risk from Cyber-Attacks. (www.thechinesecomspiracy.com) Mariotti does Keynote speeches, serves on corporate boards and is a consultant/advisor to companies. He can be reached at www.mariotti.net .
Thanks to John Mariotti / Blog Forbes
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