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That's hope and change for you. With the U.S currently involved in 3 wars, Obama is the epitome of peace, he 100% deserved that nobel peace prize. Next I would like to see Rosie O'Donnell win people magazine's sexiest woman of the year award. After all Obama is about as much of a peace president as Rosie is sexy.
Human history is nothing but one military empire after another, all doing the same thing and declining into obscurity the same way. The king gets power, gets greedy, invades his neighbors. In recent history Rome, Spain, England, Russia, and of course we did it. Throwing away wealth that could have raised quality of life for all of us, by waging senseless wars that benefit nobody and harm everyone.
Apparently China, Germany and India have decided that the stupid countries can waste their wealth on senseless war-mongering, while they build manufacturing economies (like the one we made during and after WWII that put us at the top of the heap) and secure prosperity, growth and a hopeful future.
Too bad our nation's leaders are incapable of learning from history, like we expect every schoolchild to.
Like that that vermin Zbigniew Brezinski said, the world is politically awakening and paying more attention the scams going on by their so called leaders and those in bed with them. They kept many dummed down with commercials and patriotic slogans to pump up the masses, but they did not know when to quit with their greed and power and insist on taking more and more, but their games will be coming to an end soon. History proves this true. All empires end including their satellite states that depend on them eventually collapse.
The small protests throughout Europe and the Middle East is a small taste of what is to come.
Why does the US have to invade, go to war and then instill a government while China just calls up the head of the country and makes a deal to buy oil ? What is wrong with this picture ?
Perhaps it's just that China pays in cash while we pay in blood. Blood may be thicker than water but its not as thick as oil or as precious as cash.
Why Does The U.S. Meddle So Much In Other Countries Internal Affairs?
A number of reasons, however in rank, American exceptionalism, military-industrial-corporate-media-complex, and the American peoples need to have cheap goods and energy.
Look around this and other forums, listen to the talking bobble heads on every nightly news channel, and to about 98% of our government, we believe it is out God given right to do as we damn well please and do whatever the hell we want if it is in our interest.
Of course the American interest today includes about 90% of the globe, the entire high seas, and any poor slob of a nation that happens to grow a nation or culture on top our oil or minerals.
According to the definitive word of God in the Bible Americana, the Neo-Testament (after Reagan) It says and I quote, "Go forth unto the world my chosen people and take that which is yours, that which is all I created and lay before you" Raygun 2:14 "If the lesser peoples of the world fail to heed my childrens desires, then go forth and slaughter the men, women, children, leave no crops stand and bring the walls of their houses upon then and they shall know my love and the love of my special children", "After the children have punished those who stand to block their will, take from them all that is theirs as it is now yours, just be sure to tell then you are bringing democracy." Democrasaurus 1: 13-14
[/absurd]
However in truth, what Americans believe isn't far from this and I suspect this is much how the British felt and the Spanish of the 16th century, and of course Rome. The only difference being, they actually bragged about the size of their empire, we cannot even admit that we are one as the cognitive dissonance wrought by such a notion creates a huge need to rationalize our position through words such as "interest" and "right" and "national defense (offense)"
There are those who oppose wars due to humanitarian reasons and yet others who point to the economic costs of waging wars abroad, but most never realize that our very lifestyles demand and are wholly dependent upon cheap goods and energy. So in one sense, it is our population of citizens needs for vast consumption at low costs which drives our foreign policy to intervene in order to better provide these things. It also serves as a basis for rationalization by using terms like spreading democracy, which is about as absurd my earlier writ. Unfortunately, we have intervened so much that the cost of ensuring the flow of cheap goods and oil is exceeding the benefit of the cheap goods themselves, and we now swim in an ocean of debt and deficit spending. Yet instead of even considering this, we focus almost entirely on social provisions of our government and we continue to squeeze the people for every ounce of labor and tax until one day all that will remain is a hollow husk of where an American used to exist.
Here is where it gets really good. Americans are so short sighted, so into the "ME" its all about me little matrix world they create for themselves that we no longer even bother to consider the world we create for our children. Americans are concerned with what they can get NOW, at this very moment. Republicans and Democrats alike have had no issues with borrowing money from future generations to pay for their lifestyles today, and to hell with the future. We have become morally bankrupt, as is anyone who places babies not yet born into debt we incurred by living beyond our means.
The bright spot is that our economic state now prevents us from taking on much more large scale interventions, as truth of the matter is, we are in hock up to our eyeballs, and much to the relief of the rest of the world. We have reached the apex of what we can reasonably do through military means.
Yet I feel I should note, that American exceptionalism is not unique to Americans, it exist in all people, groups and nations and had some other nation been fortunate enough to be in our circumstances, it is highly likely that they would do much the same. It is as much human nature as it is some unique aspect of being American.
I'm sorry but i have to correct you here on this one item.
There is no cheap goods as much as the propagandist would have you believe. Items we buy are the same price adjusted for inflation given the market cycle it is in. The CEO's, Wall Street and the like pocket the difference which explains the rapid increase in wealth for the last 30 years towards the top, while wages have stagnated for everyone else.
I will grant you that oil is fairly cheap because it is traded in dollars, but also because they depend on it to produce the stuff we buy to make them rich.
Without cheap oil, we also we not be able to drive to work to operate the machinery or computers that drive the whole system. It's the life blood of the engine.
I have looked at prices in the product/market cycle and adjusting for inflation, there is no difference in what we pay.
We actually pay more for everything when you take into account how far your dollar goes in regards to stagnant wages, the cost of healthcare, food, insurance, and college and housing.
I'll need to start a thread on this to show the data when I get it all together.
Last edited by J746NEW; 03-24-2011 at 06:14 PM..
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