"What’s missing in this campaign is a bold vision of where the United States should be heading in these crucially important early years of the 21st century. In their different ways, Senators Clinton and Obama have shown themselves to be inspirational and at times even heroic figures. But neither has offered the vision that this moment in history demands."
What Mr. Hebert knows to well is that it isn't time to roll out your vision of the future. In this artificially long, election season, which began the moment the midterm election of 2006 was settled, we are just getting the chairs arranged around the table. Pundits and policy wonks are having a great time speculating on everything from hairdo's toneer-do's . Every special interest with a power position is weighing in on which candidate will serve them best. The candidates are keeping their cards very close to their proverbial vest in order to look as vanilla as they can across the board. Once the party nominations are settled, we will see a little ankle, a glimpse of the leg and the top button will loosen on this subject, but we aren't going to see the "vision statement" in anything but the broadest terms. Laying you cards on the table before the betting has closed is a mistake even the a rube inLas Vegas knows is stupid.
However, Mr. Herbert has a good point. We should be talking more about the candidates vision of the future and he is right to demand they give to us before we vote for them. There is little doubt that we really are at a turning point in our history. It is not a campaign slogan to merely spread a tent and try to get everyone under it. Fortunately a significant number of young people get it and are energizing this movement. Their support of Obama have surprised and gotten the attention of the public in general and the political wonks in specific. What these young people have realized and what their involvement in the this political process has highlighted are issues that have been on the back burner for too long.
We need to to do, in general, is invest in this country. We need to reassess our foreign policy. We need to restructure our government to answer the needs of this century.
Investment in this country is usually interpreted as code for isolationism by right wing politicians, but the truth is while we try to build roads, bridges, schools and other infrastructure in Iraq, our own needs in this area is decaying. We need to set aside the rhetoric and take a clear look at the needs in our own country.
Leaders of the future need to recognize that the class structure in our society has changed forever and that protection for the former middle class need to be introduced n the face of global corporations. Unions, local and state government are generally helpless in the face of the strength and mobility of these entities.
Tax rules, health care protection, requiring the payment of a living wage and other so-called left wing issues become more reasonable when faced with the monolithic global corporation. We need to look at the rights and responsibility of citizenship in order to empower people to control their communities. On the other hand we have to increase the opportunity for education and underwrite that effort. We do not have a shortage ofeducatable workers in almost any field that you might name. What we have is a shortage of affordable opportunities for educable people to gain the knowledge and skills they need to serve.
(Example: Educated workers from foreign countries who are granted work permits in this country because there are shortages in their fields of expertise, are often educated for free in their own countries. College degrees in their fields can cost the American student thousands of dollars and usually is represented by debt upon graduation.)
We clearly need to debate the real issues of our time. Economic and social needs are important and have been neglected for far too long, however we still represent he strongest nation in the world and can't abandon that responsibility. Global terrorism is real, but engaging ourselves in land wars in the middle east is not the way to fight this battle.
We need to look at the world with fresh eyes. Unfortunately recent decisions by our government have damaged our reputation and standing in the world community. We need to repair that by making good decisions in our partnership with other countries to achieve a balance that allows the rest of the world to grow and prosper, rather than exploiting them for our own short term interests. We will not always like nor will it be in our best interest to witness the journey other countries will take in their own self interest. However, the directions they take and their goals, unless they include our destruction, are and never have been, any of our business. Currently, we relate to the rest of the world, like a meddling mother, who knows no limits on her justification to manipulate theirchild's lives and influence their actions. Instead, we need to be that shinning example of what works and the sympathetic good neighbor, not the global bully that gets it's way or strikes out in anger and vengeance.
Clearly, our armed forces are the best in the world, but as we have seen, and let's admit it the world has witnessed, we can not police the world. The military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched or resources to the maximum. We not only exhibit our limitations to the real enemies of freedom, but we are wasting our assets in yet another attempt to protect oil company assets. Rather than asking our selves why we are "hooked" on this oil consumption habit and how we could break it, we engage in war to feed our habit. Our foreign policy is always about us and as a result we are left with bitter and vengeful allies with the thinnest veneer of allegiance.
Yes, we need a big idea vision of the future, but we also have to have the dialogue in the public sector to build a coalition of thought and purpose to a new vision of America. Change does not happen quickly nor without resistance. The next President has to build a body of public approval that is prepared to remain committed and vocal in their insistence on change.
No comments:
Post a Comment