Thank you for the kind words. I am glad somebody enjoys my writeups. :)
Economics: Right -now- our economic situation is "ok"..not great, not terrible. However because of our commitments to certain spending programs (social security/medicare) the federal government in a decade or so won't be able to pay for anything (at current tax rates) except these programs and the debt. Unless we can magically grow the economy to dramatically increase government revenue, we will start seeing collapse of federal government services combined with a massive increase in taxes. My solution? Leave now and take citizenship elsewhere. This will not be solved.
They don't call Social Security the '3rd rail' of politics for nothing.
Education: This is tied into economics, America has excellent collegiate level educational facilities, but our incubators (high schools/junior high) tend to be sub-par. In my opinion this is due to spending educational resources on trying to prepare everyone for college whereas its readily apparent that not everyone is going to go to college. This country's educational system is based on the factory production model while trying to churn out specialists for an information economy. Obviously it doesn't work well. That said, as the overall economics provide funding for schools, the education system will continue to be in a permanent state of existing on life support. My solution: Trade schools, school vouchers, year round class schedules, and tax incentives for parents whose kids perform above average. However if I actually had kids, I'd leave the country and enroll them in an international private school -- which would provide a far better quality of education plus give them needed language skills (Mandarin).
Excellent points. Time magazine wrote an interesting piece on how schools are failing gifted students. While I do not place as much blame as the article does on NCLB (even when I went to high school I felt that those with above average potential were given the shaft when compared to the "marginal or below average" students, and that was before NCLB) that definitely needs to be revisited. It is on my to-do list to write a sub based on that article unless anybody else wants to do it.
I agree with everything except international schools, although when I have children I will want to take them to as many foreign countries and experience as many cultures as possible. So far I have only been to 7 (with 2 more on tap in a few months) and I am shocked to say that this horribly small number seems to put me in the top percentile of most of my fellow countrymen.
Armed Forces: The idea that the military is at a breaking point is somewhat of a misnomer. It is the way we fight that is taxing our resources. There is nothing wrong with our heavy infrastructure (tanks, carriers, nukes) - these are top notch. However our political inability to use them combined with creating scenarios where we are 'forced' to put boots on the ground is leading us towards failure. That said -- it is simply inconceivable to me that even our boots on the ground can be defeated either via attrition or morale. The armed forces is meeting its current recruitment goals and this is where everyone who signs up knows the score. My solution:no changes necessary. we are the best the world has ever seen.
It is a political problem, and not a military one as you so aptly point out. No insurgency could ever displace the US Army and Marines if we were hell bent on staying (perhaps if there was a worthwhile cause?). However, the foreign adventures are taking a toll on the army. Not in equipment or material but in experience -- as the article in the writeup points out -- that Captain with the Silver Stars, Purple Hearts and 3 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan that would grow up to be the next member of the Joint Chiefs (as the current ones went through 'Nam) is likely to say 'the hell with it all' and leave. Same with the private who would be promoted and become an experienced drill sergeant to train the next generations of soldiers.
immigration: As long as there are social programs there will be illegal immigrants. Either kill the social programs - thereby reducing the cost of immigrants, or transfer that cost to those who benefit from illegal immigrants i.e. employers. This country is built on immigration, our finest scientists (einstein, oppenheimer et al) have all been immigrants, it makes no sense for us to be anti-immigrant. We should instead cherry pick the best and brightest from other countries, and create strong disincentives to discourage the influx of unskilled labor. A wall/border fence does not accomplish this. A nationalized id system for access to social services, and heavy fines against employers who employ immigrants would make the problem manageable.
Are you talking REAL ID there? Otherwise I am 100% behind you.
Environment: By most measures the american environment is a lot better than it was a generation ago. Air is cleaner, water too..water shortage as a resource problem does not exist in the USA. Instead what we have is lots of development in areas which are not friendly to dense populations (Nevada, Arizona). Global warming effects are already burnt in, and I see no practical solutions on the horizon despite people telling you to buy a prius. My solution: don't buy any sea-front properties and enjoy the milder winters.
Gonna have to disagree with you there in part. Look in any mid-western/western farming area with higher than normal temps whose water is also being used to fuel growth in cities or shunted south to Mexico.
national identity: being a naturalized american, I take a somewhat dim view of "americanism". Voting is rationally speaking, a waste of time and effort. If American society can't provide a cohesive vision for what it wants to be ..I don't care. Its its failure to provide for the welfare of its citizens thats concerning to me.
It seems these days 'Americanism' is nothing more than a yellow magnetic ribbon on your SUV.
I hope this thread is useful to others -- it has allowed me to realize that I have become extremely jaded and done an almost 180 in some aspects of my political leanings over the years, which is odd since pre-Bush I used to be as left-liberal as they came.
Nice post, by the way.
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Re: Alas, Babylon?
Sat Aug 18, 2007 at 01:46:21 AM EST
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Are you talking REAL ID there? Otherwise I am 100% behind you.
As a libertarian-type I understand the cons associated with REAL ID and any other alternate national id systems -- however you can't get a handle on controlling immigration unless you can create a viable method for employers to check the legal work status for employees. Unless there is a single federal database to refer to, the immigration problem can't be managed. Additionally, we either get rid of social services based on physical presence, or start checking for authorization to access those services.
If we credibly want to address immigration, an centralized work and social service authorization database is the only way to do it. As an immigrant who has extensive records with the federal government, the development of such a system holds less fear for me than it does for the average native born american.
Gonna have to disagree with you there in part. Look in any mid-western/western farming area with higher than normal temps whose water is also being used to fuel growth in cities or shunted south to Mexico.
The thing about the Western states is that they all tend to draw from the same aquifiers -- unlike the eastern states which can support dense populations due to a higher prevalance of water resources, the western states simply are ignoring the regional geographic realities. If you built a city in the Sahara desert and inhabited it with 10million people would you find it reasonable to complain about a water shortage? The west has -never- been as rich in water as the east, this is not a climate change problem, its a human population/city management problem.
We either will have to move the water to the people (I'm talking pipelines from the Mississippi or Water Salinization plants on the west coast), or the people will have to move --Dust Bowl style -- to where the water is. However in total (the entire USA) we don't lack for water. Its just not distributed where the people have built cities -- look at the east coast cities, all near major water supplies. Now look at the west...Vegas is merely the most profligate of many examples...too many people are living in areas where there is insufficient supply.
To me that is not an environmental problem (as in our water is disappearing) but a resource issue (as in you can't draw 10 gallons from an 8 gallon jug)
Memory is a strange bell, jubilee and knell.
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Re: Alas, Babylon?
Sat Aug 18, 2007 at 04:51:03 AM EST
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As a libertarian-type I understand the cons associated with REAL ID and any other alternate national id systems -- however you can't get a handle on controlling immigration unless you can create a viable method for employers to check the legal work status for employees. Unless there is a single federal database to refer to, the immigration problem can't be managed. Additionally, we either get rid of social services based on physical presence, or start checking for authorization to access those services.
Electronic SS # check when employment starts, verified with several forms of photo ID, followed by actual enforcement of the immigration laws if an employer is found to be hiring an illegal. If a illegal/terrorist can scam the right SS#/name combo and get photo ID in that name right now REAL ID ain't gonna do jack, especially since the person doing the checking will be some random $12 an hour DMV employee.
Some states (such as NYS) have already begun stamping their DLs with big bold notations saying "NOT VALID FOR ID - FOREIGN NATIONAL" and making the expiration the same as when their visa expires, even without a REAL ID mandate. There has to be a better middle ground than going all the way to "REAL ID" format.
