It's Official: We are mainstream!
Which means, rather then being #1, or a superpower. We are ordinary. We have managed to fall off the pedestal that was once the greatest nation on Earth, bar none. We were there for a while, during Clinton was probably the apex. Now this:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200905/imf-advice
Maybe we can now get the Right to stop crying about what we may lose. We have lost it. Now it will take all of us working together to recover our prestige and power. The magical market has failed. Those other countries noted in the article needed the IMF to bail them out. We have no such luxury. We are our own rescuers, or we perish. If this nation fails, we can look to the Right, for they refuse to admit in these dire times, we have to share, we have to work together, or everything is for naught. Not because of the ideology of the Left, to share, but because of the Right, who refuse will this be lost.
I've been saying we fell off the pedestal for years but I was told I wasn't being patriotic. LOL
I was looking through the headlines earlier and the right is so pathetic you have to laugh but I really do believe in a two party system. When it works it's one of the best systems of checks and balances I can think up, although I was probably a kid when that happened, Eisenhower maybe? Maybe not there was that "industrial complex thing"
Anyhoo, with that said, ideology from both sides need to chill for now so we can get back to where we need to be.
It's pretty obvious the right isn't going to be the first to cry UNCLE so where does that leave us? That's not a rhetorical question because I have an answer. It leaves us with a President who actually sees the bigger picture and is doing everything in his power to put us on the right track. KNOWING, we are being too emotional and pigheaded to see it. He knows he doesn't have all the answers but when everyone is screaming and criticizing but not coming up with viable options, and the problems around him are getting worse not better, what's a man to do? Read my Pet Goat?
I give him props for staying. No matter what he does he's wrong and people who called him Messiah are pissed because he's not walking on water in two months time. If I had walked into this mess, I would have said KMA and taken the first bus back to Chi Town.
GZ, I'm not an intellectual giant. Can't write worth a crap and my spelling sucks but I swear, between the cocktail chatter and the low info folks, my head is about to explode!
Thank you for being one of the voices of reason that will allow me to vent, without taking my head off while trying to imply (consciously or unconsciously I'm some dimwit)
Hopefully I'll better in the morning. Time to listen to some soothing jazz and or classic soul and chill. Later :)
March 31, 2009 2:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
What's so important about getting on a pedestal in the first place?
March 31, 2009 8:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
I must agree with that question.
Indeed to aim for the pedestal should not be our goal. We should aim for very ideals related to upholding the Rule of Law, compassion, justice, and universal human rights.
March 31, 2009 10:01 AM | Reply | Permalink
Being the best is something to seek. Feeling the need to remind everyone else of it is something to avoid. I do not want the best because of how it relates to what others have. I simply want the best.
We shall see how things play out at the G20 whether a return to glory is feasible because if Obama cannot instill faith once again in the US, then we will probably never return to the pedestal. I am okay with that. I'm not obsessed with being the best, but there is always room to improve and no reason to slow down if we get too far ahead.
The point is that we were there. But to believe that we are there now is delusional on so many fronts. The point is that we were there because we were more united and we cannot return there until we unify once again. We cannot even move in that direction. With the present politics of obstruction, I am skeptical we will, although the MSM projects one perspective, that of populist anger, while the poll numbers show great support for Big O.
March 31, 2009 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm with Lalo. Being on a pedestal has too many unintended consequences. One of which is the way our govt. has preached its hegemony and practiced it at home and abroad.
Also, being on the pedestal is financially and socially expensive. I have a sense that it can be morally corrosive. We were there, true, but at a specific time in history as an aftermath of other confluences, no?
I'd be happy to just get us up and be strong again and not seek to be the superpower or a "decider" for the entire planet.
A planet of equals - nations and people. That's what I want. That's what I dream of.
March 31, 2009 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
A planet of equals sounds nice but what is that exactly? There is always someone better, bigger, smarter...
My dream would start out having people loving and believing in self. Knowing their strengths and their weaknesses and being comfortable with both. I really believe if we could do that, loving, respecting and accepting others, warts and all, would come naturally.
To me, being equal is a state of mind. A garbage collector can feel equal to a CEO or Harvard grad. All can have something to contribute to the world. We can learn from many different people whatever their roles or positions in life.
March 31, 2009 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah but we can still blow up all the mfers that do not do WHAT WE TELL THEM TO DO.
March 31, 2009 8:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Only if you promise not to blow yourself up in the process. :)
March 31, 2009 9:47 PM | Reply | Permalink