Post Election Ruminations

I think Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire owes Obama her job.

I heard on one report that McCain got the same basic number of votes that Bush did... it just wasn't enough this time. With record numbers of voters showing up at the polls, inspired to vote for Obama, lots of other progressive candidates and agendas did well on election day. Color me a pessimist, but I thought Gregoire's opponent Dino Rossi was a lock. And I didn't think the death with dignity bill had much of a chance. Both did very well on election night, and I think (with the sad exception of the California gay marriage ban) progressive leadership ruled the day across the country. It's amazing what an inspiring presidential candidate can do for your whole party and platform.

Fear is the mind-killer.

I maintain that we attacked Iraq out of fear... not fear of Saddam Hussein's military... or his mischaracterization as a "wacko Muslim with nukes." Not out of fear of terrorist cells or weapons of mass destruction. The fear that lead us to attack Iraq wasn't even directed at the country we decimated. Our fear was of "foreign dependence"... a catchphrase that rang through the speeches of both presidential candidates this fall.

The neocon plan was to control oil reserves on a par with Saudi Arabia (and carving them up amongst various private oil companies is still "controlling" them.) The desire to eliminate America's international energy dependence is symptomatic of a basic American fear: having to negotiate interdependency. Instead, we seek Empire.

"Empire-building" is a drive to dominate and control everything you need until there are no more external threats in the world. It seems to me to be a very male instinct to eliminate any sense of vulnerability. One example is our established "slavery culture" with Hispanic migrant labor. Our agribusiness depends on their sub-minimum wage, non-unionized, no benefits labor. But rather than honor a symbiotic relationship, we demand all the power. Complain and you can be deported. No OSHA, no payroll taxes, no worries about skyrocketing health care costs. We need them, so we better make sure to keep them under our heel.

Because OPEC and the House of Saud actually have some power over their natural resources, and aren't under our heel, we hate them. We refuse to accept interdependent relationships. They need us (we're their best customer) as much as we need them... but we can't abide such relationships.

Actually, America under the neocons wasn't able to sustain any healthy international relations at all. We were like an abusive husband who controlled and manipulated (at best) and raped (at worst) the other states of the world.

If a person behaved in this fashion, you would have to conclude that they were sociopathic and solipsistic... a serious danger to other people. Under our laws, that would mean incarceration and isolation. Unless America was a black man arrested in Texas... then he'd probably be executed.