Six months ago I was asked by the president of a think tank organization if I would care to join them. I was naturally flattered, but skepticism dulled the flattery. I was leery about my ability to contribute anything substantial to their discussions.
Their interests revolved around local issues, whereas my political writing, and interests, are primarily from a national and international perspective. So I thanked the gentleman, and turned down the offer.
I don’t think most people like to read writers who are out of their area of expertise. Or who get vitriolic in their verbiage because their toast got burned that morning. Or writers, however excellent, are either behind the time line, or whose opinions are formed by guesswork, rather than homework.
One writer, in the last category, caught my eye yesterday. He is James A. Dorn, vice president for academic affairs at the Cato Institute in Washington. His commentary was titled, “Creating an ownership society: the Bush challenge.”
It will be instructive to find out what Dorn means by an “ownership society.” He defines it this way: An ownership society is one in which “taxpayers retain a greater portion of their income and have a stronger incentive to save and invest.”
“The problem”, Dorn says, “is that priorities must be set and tradeoffs made. During wartime, resources must be spent first and foremost on national defense, but that requires cutting other spending to restrain the growth of government. President Bush and Congress failed to do this during the last four years, they now have a chance to start anew.”
Start WHAT anew? If Bush, in his first term, concentrated more on the Iraqi war than on an “ownership society”, what makes Dorn think that Bush NOW will be starting anew, whether he has a chance or not?\
Dorn is either living in tent in Disney World or he hasn’t been reading his news summaries lately.
Bush, apparently oblivious to any “ownership society” challenge-as outlined by Dorn— has already put his aggression agenda in higher gear by jacking up his war machine. With his choice of lady-hawk Condi Rice, a Bush side-kick, as the new Secretary of State—replacing Colin Powell, one of the few “moderate” voices left in the administration—Bush has signaled his authoritarian intent.
The war-happy cabal in the Bush administration— Cheney, Rumsted, Wolfowitz, Bolton, et al, none of whom he has replaced—now are putting pressure on the president to take more aggressive approach to the perceived Iranian threat—read: after Iraq, YOU’RE next.
Moreover, the best way to make a tyrannical government viable is to legalize it. Thus, we can expect the appointment of judges sympathetic to his agenda to be high on the President’s duty list.
And while Bush is on a roll he intends to keep rolling.
His trip to Santiago, Chile for a chinwag with China, Japan, South Korea, and Russia about how to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, is just short of ludicrous.
Who can we trust? Russia? Forget it. Japan and South Korea? Maybe, as long as our troops are there. China? A sworn enemy of the United States.
It is this recalcitrant crew that Bush is using to reduce North Korea’s comfort level. #Problem is, Bush will have to imply the use of force if it doesn’t comply. Can you imagine how much help we will get from our “partners” if North Korea thumbs its nose at us? Yeah, like the help we got from France and Germany in Iraq.
In which case, we will unilaterally be at North Korea’s throat. After all, they were a key element in Bush’s “axis of evil” pronouncement a whole back, remember? How then could we expect Bush NOT to get us into a war with them?
Meanwhile, a closer view of our domestic failures and the concept of an “ownership society” reveals just how nebulous that is.
Dorn, over at Cato, writes “Without fundamental institutional reform of Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes will have to be increased dramatically.” Those two programs, Dorn informs us, “will reduce savings and investment, slow growth, and, most important, erode liberty and responsibility by restricting ownership rights.”
That dismal reform picture, along with Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan urging the government to reduce its trade deficit—now at a record $550 billion—so as to encourage Americans to save more, is a double slap in the face.
First slap, is the trade deficit which is expected to INCREASE to $650 billion this year, NOT fall.
The second slap, is expecting families that need two incomes to survive the squeeze of rising interest rates, the fiat dollar losing value, skyrocketing retail prices, basement-level savings rates, taxes used to finance a costly, controversial war, and still put money into savings.
The only realistic look at this dark reality is down.
So, Mr. Dorn at Cato, like so many think tank commentaries on America and its citizens, challenging President Bush to “normalize” foreign policy and return to a domestic agenda that creates an “ownership society”, is hogwash.
Bush intends to do neither, and any good, up-to-speed, well-informed political writer would know that.
“Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”