The richest, most powerful nation on Earth is going to have a new President in 2008. I’m so excited! What’s more, the new president could be black: remarkable how far the USA has moved on since slavery was abolished in 1863 –Â it’s only taken, what? 145 years for black people to reach equity in the Land of the Free. That is if Barack Obama is elected.
But it’s also exciting that John McCain has been brave enough to criticise the execution of the Iraq War — here’s a man who knows his mind and for whom age is clearly no impediment. Way to go Republican voters!
So, who is it going to be: Obama or McCain; blue or red; donkeys or elephants?
Do you really think it matters?
Sorry to upset your political sensibilities — if you feel that party politics is a big deal — but it makes no difference at all who becomes president; and here is why.
It has always been the foreign policy of all civilized nations to maximise the amount of resources it can obtain, whether that be fossil fuels, metals, farmland, fish or slaves — like the people who make most of our clothes and consumer goods. Civilization requires natural resources and labor in order to keep it running: failure to secure these is economic and political suicide. The USA is no different: neither Obama nor McCain will change that policy, because one of them will become head of the most powerful civilized nation on Earth. Their raison d’etre will be to ensure the continued success of that nation on the world stage, and so their primary objective will be to secure resources — that’s the way it has always been; that’s why all civilizations have sought to create empires.
In fact, as resources become more scarce the policies of the USA will become more imperial than ever. Iraq has become part of the American Empire so that it can control the 3rd largest oil reserve in the world, and Iran is top of the list to provide the next gulp of unregulated oil. The Philippines and Mexico meekly turn over their people to become wage-slaves to the US Empire, and ever since its instigation, Israel has provided the best possible outpost for US hegemony in the Middle East: why else do you think Obama’s first speech after becoming nominee-elect for the Democrats described the USA’s link with Israel as, “unbreakable today, unbreakable tomorrow, unbreakable for ever”?
Do you really think that things would have been any different had Al Gore defeated George Bush Jr. eight years ago, or John Kerry had defeated the same nemesis four years later?
I find it charming the way partisan commentators claim “their” candidate will make a difference, desperately trying to tease out the differences between the two sides, while all the time knowing that, regardless of who is elected in November 2008, it will just be business as usual. Your vote will not make the slightest bit of difference.
That’s the price you pay for living in the “Free World”.
I’m having a hard time figuring out how someone can have the mental capacity to write a blog post and yet state that things would have been the same these past 7 years if Gore had defeated Bush. Help me out with that one.
do you also eat your own feces?
Shea
I would recommend you have a long, hard look at civilization in general at what its aims are. Click on the link that says “Try this for size” and you will see what Gore would have really done in power (remember, he was VP at the time) — you cannot be in a position of power in an industrial nation and not cause irreversible environmental or social harm. I don’t expect many readers to get this: you need to trust me that it is merely the forces of disconnection — advertising, laws, military power, platitudinal statements from politicians and corporations that they will do good and so many more tools that the state uses to keep us “good citizens” — that make people think they are in a good place and actually have a choice.
Keith
Joe B
It’s spelt “faeces” where I come from. Can we share recipes, then?
K.
I can’t agree more, Keith! All the world leaders just care about preserving the chain of slave-master. Obama sounds like a god choice ( and I certainly like him, way more than the other candidates, and also some of his policies and I will be really glad to see him winning) but in terms of environment policies, I think he and every other leader just have no clue. And even if they do, the battle to really highlight this issue will require somebody with a strong commitment with the future (which by the way includes EVERYBODY else not living in the US) and to be willing to get EDUCATED about clean energies.
It certainly makes a big difference to have a black candidate but unfortunately Sen Obama hasn’t addressed environment concerns with possible policies or ask to their supporters to express their concerns on that matter. Of course, people are worried about “important” things but not the climate change and all the nasty consequences.
That’s the real problem here, people just care about “important” things and that’s where things get wrong; the most important thing is our future (and Im not talking about the future of gas prices) and that future may not get us that far if we continue thinking that skin color will solve everything.
My 2 cents.
Keithf,
The simplest way I can think to illustrate the fatal flaw in your argument relies on first understanding these two basic facts.
1. There are things the POTUS CAN affect.
2. There are things the POTUS CANNOT affect.
For some reason you have decided that the relative number and importance of (2) are so much greater than those of (1), that (1) is reduced to virtual insignificance. Even with the relatively small sample size, American history already shows that your simplistic analysis is incorrect.
I’m afraid I’ll have to “double fatal flaw” you here, Mark.
Yes, POTUS *can* affect lots of things, but the point I make is that POTUS doesn’t *want* to change these things because POTUS is in thrall to the industrial economic system, like almost every POTUS since…well, ever.
There have been some brave exceptions, but they seem to have paid for this with their lives.
K.
actually it does matter in terms of how much of your hard earned pay check is going away to the government… unless youre unemployed then youre in good shape under the democrats regime
In the end it all comes down to tax, eh? It must be wonderful being so happy as part of the machine :-)
My friend, you are living in the UK — why do you imagine that you can grasp the bizarre depths of American politics? … You have the “Green Blindness” about politics: nothing matters but changing the root of the system. But that is foolish: we can’t wait for Utopia. Even the Green Party in America has dumped Ralph Nader this year. Obama wants to make changes that matter, changes that affect every American, in scores of ways. In addition, life under Obama will create a much more nourishing climate for people like yourself (and me) who want to live more sustainably. I was at first interested in your book, but after reading your post, I can’t imagine that your book will be worthwhile, if you can’t see the difference between these two candidates.
“nothing matters but changing the root of the system” — and you call that blindness? How odd.
All politics is essentially the same: it’s about keeping the money flowing where the corporations want it to keep flowing. My book is worthwhile because it makes clear that I understand there is no difference between the candidates.
K
What a hypocrite!!! Obama says McCain attacks him rather than talk about the issues? Obama is the one who has consistently promoted his ‘star’ status, rather than come up with substantive solutions to the issues, and he’s the one who has avoided debates which McCain has continually proposed. Furthermore, McCain wiped the floor with Obama at Saddleback, by showing substance compared to style, which was the only thing Obama had to offer. The people in San Francisco must be brain dead, and Pelosi’ls statement ‘a leader God has blessed us with at this time’ makes me nauseous. The reason McCain characterizes Obama as ‘risky’ is because he is!!! In these challenging times, we don’t need to elect a community organizer to President of the United States.