Blamesmanship

Let’s see, Katrina ravaged the gulf coast and it happened during George W. Bush’s presidency so it’s his fault! Don’t think so, but using current political rot-think, it must be. My personal thought is the governments response to Katrina was stinko and that falls on Bush.

Another example, oh yes, a good one. 9-11 occurred on Bush’s watch so that must be his fault as well, right?  Oh no; according to the wing nuts that’s the fault of Clinton. And of course Bush handled the 9-11 aftermath stunningly well, right?  Let’s see, the federal government guaranteed $20 billion of assistance to New York City and state and its citizens affected by the disaster. But they didn't pay it all out. Still haven’t. Still a nightmare. Lots of promises but no adequate follow through.

And then there is the Afghanistan war to track down Al Qaeda; many billions spent, hundreds of thousands of military personnel deployed but little to show for it; but IRAQ! Now there was a more tantalizing trophy to pursue. And Bush did. With lies and dissembling truths. Lessen our commitment in Afghanistan and pour two trillion dollars into Iraq war adventures. How many died? And for what end? What peace was achieved? Is Iraq at peace? Was it ever? How many of our personnel died there? How many of our personnel have lost their livelihoods and health while serving in Iraq? Tens of thousands. Tens of thousands. And the toll continues. Iraq is not at peace. It is a nation of several despots instead of one tyrant. All are just as deadly.

Oh and there is more. Bush and Cheney endowed the American spy agencies with authority to spy on everyone’s communications – phones, computers, TV viewing, reading materials, you name it and they could peer into everyone’s lives. It was worth it to most people because they felt such work made the world a safer place to be. It was the cost we paid to battle terrorism.  Right?

Wrong. Years later the Bush-Cheney legacy engulfs the world with spying ratcheted up by superior electronics. We can now listen in on private conversations of nearly every world leader. Never mind these peeks are for the good of mankind. No one much cares anymore or trusts others. And many told us this would be the result.

But we didn't listen. It was what we needed to do to battle terrorism. So now, whether we agree or not, spying is a double edged sword. Depending on who’s in charge, it is either good or bad.  A Bush supporter? It’s all good. An Obama supporter? Good there as well.

No! it is not good. The spying should stop. The cost is too great. Friends are becoming enemies for no good reason. They should be working closely together to make the world safe from terrorism. They do not. They leave the hard work to the USA and its taxpayers with a little cooperation thrown in from them from time to time. But the hard work? No, they just complain and blame. And the political hooligans at home simply forget who started this mess in the first place. Started something that was immoral at the get-go. But we were all agog about terrorism and had to do something, right? So we gave up some liberties. To make us safe. But along the way we lost a great deal more than safety.

Some bureaucrats mess up a computer system. Instead of fixing the system, they blame the sitting President. The Affordable Care Act has been the darling of opponents from the beginning; they can’t find enough ways to complicate it and entangle it in complexities sure to snarl any administrative procedure or computer system. Then they sit back and laugh and poke their political enemies as though it is their incompetence that caused the breakdown. But no, it is their own tomfoolery that messed up a good thing.

It is not the current President’s fault that American society is bent on self destruction for political purposes. It is his job to sort things out and lead us out of the morass. But it is also the responsibility of all of us to cooperate and assist the process.

After all, this is our nation. We have a role to play in making it whole. Are you doing any heavy lifting to make that happen? Or are you a blame-gamer? If the latter, you are the problem.  

While we are at it, Germany, what are you doing to support protection of the world from terrorism? Do you really have time to complain about privacy issues when America is protecting you against terrorism and paying most of the bill for NATO? And Mexico, your drug cartels plague the world and support terrorism in their own right! What are you doing to stem that tide. Whose help are you relying on to do that? And yet you have time to gripe about privacy?

Seems to me false cries are being heard.

November 5, 2013