Change, Hope... and Money!
Every passing minute reveals why the country needs an Obama presidency. When another boneheaded utterance issues forth from George Bush's oil sucking lips, with Hillary's Willie Horton moments in West Virginia (And beyond. You'll see.), the pressure is on for the American people to finally truly opt for a positive, wise, constructive approach to governing their country and righting the crippling wrongs of the Bush legacy. In other words, Change and Hope.
In other words, Obama.
Now: "Change" and "Hope" aside, what else can happen in November? Something that has not happened since the grip of consumerism wrung the last drops of humble, progressive idealism from America some years ago.
What else can happen? The resurrection of a dream, lately the vision of retirees and hoary Greatest Generationers relegated to the cultural margins along with C-Span and mom-and-pop stores and American history.
What else can happen in November? Nothing less than a rewriting of the fundamental American story, made vital again and newly credible. What can happen is not so much an opportunity to spark a revolution (which, given the citizenry's A.D.D. might prove messy) but an invitation to reinvigorate the bastardized brand that America has become, having plied its wares, waged its wars and alienated its neighbors with jowly grimaces and cold war puffery for too long.
And come November, America could still do its bizniz (and lots of it) only now it can put its soul where its money is. As "Green" is gradually replacing "Greed" in the marketplace and is proving just as profitable, an Obama presidency will prove an effective restart of America® and provide a reintroduction to the global consumocracy which has been soured on the label for some time through arrogant mismanagement, grotesque profiteering and stunning clumsiness. "Change" and "Hope" aside, an Obama presidency would be good for business. It would make America competitive again, a player rather than a bully/debtor, its ignorance having once made it dangerous and vulnerable but now possessed of a conscience. People will be lured back to the store.
So for those who roll their eyes at the "rhetoric" of "Change" and "Hope" (oh ye of crushed faith) at the very pragmatic least, you'd make money.
God bless America!
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Then there is the gas!
I couldn't resist standing there shouting "suckers" at people pumping their own gas.
"Rebell!" Make them pump it for you at that price!"
When it was .99 c a gal. the attendant pumped gas for you, checked the oil & water ,
AND washed your windshield!
Then there is the sound!
I'm certain the pop sound is making the population ADHD! How CAN one think, with the incessant,
monotonous, 1, 2,3,4, head banging percussionm with some vocalist whining, or shouting most off key.
A woman working in my local market said "Oh I just tune it out." Is THIS the crux of the problem? In order to tune out the "music torture" people are tuned out to the important things?
Why don't they play Bach in te public schools? Scientists have PROVED that it enhances the ability to learn.
BUT the volum control in these public places is frequently in Corporate Headquarters, 600, 700 miles away! Is this designed to keep people in a daze so they wander around & buy more?
( I always get what I came for & flee, but then I am demigraphically atypical! )
Bush supports the Corporations , but this began back In the 50's, and has reached the point of takeover now!
"The resurrection of a dream, lately the vision of retirees and hoary Greatest Generationers relegated to the cultural margins along with C-Span and mom-and-pop stores and American history."
I bet not 50% of you readers has taken a LONG road trip lately. You are all in the airports taking off your shoes!
48-50 years ago; I learned to make rice Pakastani style from an International student @ U of P that my friend was dating. Nice guy!
Last month, I drove from ME to Fla & back in an 83 diesel rabbit. All the motels were Pakistani owned. & I am sorry to report, they were in it for the profit NOT the customer service. I compared notes with a friend who had stayed in MA. the same time, in a "family owned", house keeping motel, owned by the same family for years.....
NO MOM & POP dinners...
I have always loved middle eastern cuisine,..
Another elitists who's not proud to be an American. Hopefully we can help them out after Novemebr.
What's an elitist, Mr. Primate? Is this post the best you can do?
Why have you made the word 'elistists' in your sentence plural? Preceding that word is the word 'another' which screams out for a noun in the singular. What gives?
All the hand wringing in the halls of congress over how to extricate ourselves from the political and financial mess we're in is really simple. What's difficult is the required leadership. What, then, is the recipe?
--Abandon our notions of empire and bring the troops home from everywhere.
--Cut the Defense budget in half and redeploy those assets to paying our bills*, energy independence and space.**
--Stop corporate welfare and tax those earning over half a million a year appropriately.
The budget would soar back into surplus, but we wouldn't have to wait until the actual surpluses arrived. Markets are forward looking and the benefits would be immediate. The country would turn from pessimistic to optimistic. Courageous leadership is required because the entire K Street gang are Pentagon parasites, and parasites don't like it when their host is weakened.
A lot of people are going die in the coming decade from natural causes. It is time to grow up...or die.
__________
*Paying the bills means stopping wasteful spending on wars and investing in soft and hard national infrastructure (soft = health and education. Hard = transportation and power).
*Space is essential spending on at least three levels: it is a driver for new technology, it employs our brightest and broadens humanity's attention to planet Earth rather than tribal affliation, which is the root of war.
Cheers! This is Weber's best post to date.
Well the problem is that Obama is just like Clinton. Both Senators. Both have fantasies of power in the white house. Both lay claim to the common man. Both seem to be driven to disenfranchise the last primary voters by demanding one or the other abandon the race.
Everyone seems to forget these two have allowed two states to be kicked out the door by the DNC and the rules book.
No Obama is not the man. Hell Hillary is not the man. Why are we not demanding that someone else be nominated from the floor of the convention? Al Gore lets say, a past Vice President, brilliant, intellectual as hell, and probably to smart to take up the cause if nominated from the floor.
No Obama is what we are left with folks. He didn't do anything in the Senate. He's a total unknown. A real Johnny come lately to the political scene. He's a nobody who popped out of somewhere.
We are we stuck with two loser's?
We had Al Gore; Senator Edwards; Kucinich. People whose intellects far outstrip the two canditates hands down. It's a horror thinking of the loss because these men didn't get enough graft & corruption votes from the DNC backroom boys. Not one is in the remotest a loser.
No we will be in as much trouble as we are now, only with a different set of boobs and losers in the hotseat. Both in Congress, Senate and white house.
The two "losers" are Clinton and McCain. Sadly, those who lack vision, well, lack vision. Cynicism is a cheap dodge that serves the Rovian status quo. Obama is not the second coming, but he is positioned (with big majorities in both houses) to institute a Neo-New Deal. It won't be easy. Get past your fears.
As always, thanks for another great piece, Mr. Weber.
(P.S. - I'm STILL missing "Studio 60!)
For anyone in the Chicago area interested in volunteering to help change the country back to the world model it once was:
Obama Headquarters
233 N. Michigan Ave. - 11th floor
Please join us!
The Volunteer Army for Change!!!
growing stronger by the minute - in numbers, in dollars, in spirit, in strength!
Take It Back!!!!!!!!!!
Steven
Please try to separate fact from fantasy. I know, being an actor the line does get blurred from time to time and though that works out fine for the arts it doesn't work for the future of this country. Your comments about an Obama presidency sound like a marketing meeting at a movie studio. At least the executives at those meetings know they're pushing a product. The facts are that Obama has not been a good senator, has an abysmal voting record (I believe Sean Penn recently made that point) and is trying to suck whatever life is left in the Kennedy myth to sell himself to those too young to know better or to grown-ups trying to relive their youth. If Obama succeeds this will be a case of "be careful what you wish for." You'll be poorer. The world will be less safe. And your idealism will come crashing down.
I'm not an actor but I play one off TV...I know of a couple multi-million dollar construction projects that are on hold until after the elections. The backers will approve their completion only if Obama wins.
Bush has made us less safe, making more hate us & wish for our destruction. Bush has made us weaker by funding the war through bonds underwritten by the Chinese, weakening the dollar & raising the cost of oil. This is the first war we've ever been in where Americans are asked to pay less in taxes than more. Previous generations were asked to sacrifice, more than giving up golf.
McCain would be the final nail in our coffin.
Your idealism is based on false knowledge. If you don't know it by now, well, good luck.
Please stop propogating the Myths about development project financing hinging on an election. These myths go around every election, and are NEVER true.
If this is true, please provide the names of the projects and I will be more than happy to set them up someone who will provide secure financing that will not be based upon political elections.
There are only a few sectors that can be heavily impacted by political policy (energy, pharmaceuticals and biotech being the few), and last I knew, other than alternative energy, Mr. Obama is a fan of none of these. Reality also shows that the only one of our current 3 viable candidates (soon to be two) that has worked on real alternative energy policy (and not just corn subsidies) is actually Mr. McCain. Please don't take my word for it, look it up.
Sorry, I want to take my chances with Obama. To choose between a new approach and more war is a pretty clear one in my mind. I'm worried that it isn't in yours as well.
Talk is cheap, excuses will be plenty, results will be few. The Dems and Reps never deliver on promises. It will be business as usual with lobbyists and pork. Pelosi will again shorten the working week for the House. We'll have more special hearings on steroid usage in the movies....
It must be sad to be you! Without faith in Americans and hope for the future, we are destined to be miserable. You're in my prayers.
SOOOOOOOOO RIGHT!
Gosh, you left out nuclear war in the MiddleEast if we elect McCain or Hillary. That's gonna be total fun!
I' ve followed your career for a while Mr. Weber (at least since "Wings") and you had me fooled. I'm impressed with you understanding of what's going on in the world, and particularly in this country. We truly NEED a new direction for America. One that is not cynical, not "backbiting", not vindictive, not negative. We need thoughtful and intellectually curious leadership in the White House. We need Barack Obama. He inspires others, and he even inspires a 58 year old white southern "coot" like me. Keep up the good work Steven.
Here's another sothern coot that agrees with you, at 64! I find it interesting that so many of us support Obama. Could it be..... Nah......W
Wisdom seems to be the key. Lack of wisdom seems to be our Achilles Heel (and our president.
Things take time to change for the better. Change for the worse is easy, as we've witnessed with
GW Bush and Darth Cheney. We have to climb out of the hole these two peckerheads put America in and that may take all of Barack Obama's first term. Bush and Co. have done great damage and it will be a long time getting back what they stole from us all.
Excellent. Setting a new course doesn't directly equate to destroying capitalism.
However, removing corporatism from the highest levels of governance, reinjecting ethical practices, developing goals that are sustainable for environment and people, accepting full and accurate accountability as an integral part of business, competing without monopolizing, profiting without war, rejecting greed as a primary motivator, making transparent and placing restrictions on lobbying, severely punishing criminal business practices, increasing regulatory oversight, splitting market dominance, maintaining net neutrality, limiting executive pay and perks, placing windfall taxes when needed, limiting tax breaks and direct support for most concerns, forcing adherence to pollution and cleanup laws, retrofitting and incorporating alternative energy generation into plants, factories and office buildings, removing incentives for offshoring jobs, complying with federal and state labor laws... and much more, are all goals that are attainable without destroying basic capitalist incentives.
Good post Steven... thanks.
First you need to recognize that Capitalism & Private Enterprise are two entirely different things. Capitalism - forming an Enterprise by selling stock - is only one way to form Companies. It has inherent advantages, but it"s been granted extraordinary legal advantages! The owners (stockholders) of a Corporation cannot be held accountable for Corporate crimes / irresponsibility.
The record shows that Courts (and juries) seldom hold the Officers (who are legally responsible) to the same standards they hold ordinary citizens both legally & financially.
Corporations were originally a way to fund risky ventures and quickly "Capitalize" on new technologies. Rewards were commensurate with the risks. But the practice of Corporate borrowing from the Financial sector - rather than using profits - or selling stock, lead to aversion to risk, and established Corporations chose to "bury" competition from new technologies, rather than advance them. Examples - IBM & the personal computer, RCA & both TV and FM radio. Then of course there is the fossil fuel suppliers vs renewable energy. These giants came (or are coming) around slowly, but the fact is that allowing "bean counters" to control our Economy pretty well insures we'll have no innovation - except in dishonest book-keeping!
God bless America and you, too, Mr Weber. Thank you.
It'll be nice to have this era in the rear-view mirror. I was starting think that the dark tunnel the Bush years have been was just an unfinished hole in the ground with cheap road signs.
Now that there apears to be some light at the end, we could use some "Centsable" change. Let's hope it pays off.
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