Thoughts before the elections in US - year 2004

Despite taking the country to war for a purpose no longer defensible President Bush's approval numbers are still quite high and may earn him reelection. This stunning degree of support given him by our citizens deserves calm consideration - however difficult that might be. Taking a shortcut to the first half of my conclusion I will say that the Americans are right now in a state of fear, in addition to being uninformed about and uninterested in the affairs of the world at large. So clearly having betrayed my disapproval of this administration I will still state that the government of President Bush is not the problem, but his electorate is - as almost invariably in democracies. If the government is by the people - then the people are to blame for its actions. And the people will be to blame for not taking down the incompetent Bush and his folk.

The patronizing apologists for the people often blame the media, the corporate influence on information flow and on government policies, on flawed election laws and so on. I do not buy this line of reasoning - the people, if they are truly free and courageous, can oppose these influences and change the direction of the country. Yet the people have not become interested in world enough to take charge of the fate of their country now becoming involved in the affairs of the world with an amazing ignorant arrogance - this will shortly bring me to the second half of my conclusion.

The people are the problem - the half that support Bush and his "war on terror" and the misguided ideology of the White House. Here are a few of Bush's errors which he proclaims as patriotic ideology.

• He wants to defeat "terror" - but terror is not the enemy, it cannot be defeated because it is just a method. Enemy is someone who you might want to defeat. An enemy who cannot fight us on the battlefield will use terror as a method - this is the method and weapon of the masses of people in the world humiliated by our policies. We are creating enemies, that will turn to terrorism, in places where we should be creating friends.
• Another of Bush's errors, if we are in a war, as he speaks non-metaphorically, we should be prepared to be attacked, we should be able to take hits and survive. Instead his homeland defense plans are focused on preventing an attack because, he says, it is enough that terrorists hit us once - apparently being able to defeat us. This much I deduced from his usual inarticulate speech.

Add to this the relentless propaganda of free-enterprise as the economic system that solves all practical problems of individual and social life. People just worship the market economy and agree with the administration in heaping rewards on corporations that are by design only interested in their own profits, while they are growing larger and exert more influence on workers, consumers and the government than is safe in a democracy. In fact the amount of corporate influence on economic and social life is such that for those who work, or contract, with large corporations become practically serfs in a quasi-socialist system - because a coporation is internally a socialist economy that plans and allocates resources according to its ulterior profit motive. But our beloved citizens of the land of the free are, worshipful of the free-enterprise system, are plainly led by their own government into a trap, where the corporations reap all the benefits, like the old-time slave owners. They do not challenge their governemnt to fulfill its role in the free-enterprise system where it is not to help corporations weaken workers, consumers, independent contractors, but to set up rules of exchange in such a way that market forces can lead to predominance of fair competition and justice. Instead of driving toward a sound free-enterprise system this government sponsors corporate control over workers and consumers. For example the medical insurance can be reasonably purchased in this country only by corporation that later bestow a "medical benefit" on its employees. Corporations really shape much the way medical benefits are delivered because the people have not wanted a market. Other policies like control over drug delivery (another "war" on drugs), limits on medical research, religious, sexual and gender politics are too many to name here. This lack of opposition to these policies is probably dictated by fear.

What is our role in the world? Are we to bring democracy to world? Is the world safer with democracies around rather that tyrannies? I agree, yes it is safer and more just - although the mention of justice is not present in the speeches and conversations today. There was a time when people around the world loved the United States - because we were the beacon of justice, economic progress and human rights. Outside of "the land of the free" we had many friends. Now we have a lot fewer - do we still stand for justice and human rights? Are we still an economic powerhouse? Or just a military arm? Are we safer with fewer friends and with less respect?

Getting to the conclusion - the people in America are very insecure and wish to separate themselves from the world by the military might of their armies. They want to isolate themselves into their quasi-patriotic illusion of freedom that is quickly eroded by the misguided economic ideas rewarding just the corporate elites. This isolation from the world and arrogant use of force to change it will create additional enemies, enemies of the kind that cannot field an army, but will use terror. Shutting out sensible economic ideas will bring about erosion of the middle class which is the foundation of the democratic system of government. We are no longer a friend of the world and the world will not be our friend for long. A government that gets away from its middle-class foundation will no longer be ours.