Tannishblog

No ideology is worth the death of so many young people. Paul Fusco photoblogs his impressions of military funerals.

Nod to: Alternate Brain

What is happening during the Summit of Americas is good news for globalization and for the poor peoples of the world. Americans must see that our brazen policies can hurt us. Americans must see what others think of the U. S. of A. It matters.

Global policy in America has been to push a global economy on the rest of the world, yet we wish to do so on our terms. I see this as the economic equivalence of China’s annexation of Tibet. This time, America is trying to annex the entire global economy. Are we supposed to act surprised if the nations “out there” don’t like our terms?

If we play fair, America stands to lose our unprecedented growth. The stacked deck of economic privilege we’ve been enjoying will even out until we will be forced by the greater economic global community to compete on our merits. Like equals. Imagine what that would do to our gluttonous policies, habits and lifestyles. It will hurt America at first because we build our system as inherently exploitative, and now we find we cannot keep up the ruse.

In the long term, however, America will recover from this shift in economies because we will be forced to shift. The whole globe will benefit, long term, from a truly free and balanced unity of economy. Let’s stop thinking about hypothetical political boundaries. Let’s instead realize the move toward globalization is not only inevitable, it is the only possible future of humanity: One World, One People.

It is an unfortunate by-product of our collective societies that nothing gets noticed without violence or a threat of violence. American media wouldn’t have deigned to print anything at all about peaceful protesting. Mr. Chavez’ stadium filled protest notwithstanding, without the rioting, we average Americans would remain ignorant of the fact that our foreign policy is broken. We need new leadership – real leadership – that understands the interconnectivity of nations and is willing to give a little while taking only a little in return. That’s not what we’ve been doing. We’ve been doing our best to rape the rest of the planet for our SUV’s and our satellite TV’s.

That cannot be sustainable, in any sense of the word.

UPDATE: Skippy nails it.

I’ve noticed a quiet trend recently.

In the 2000 election season, many cars on the road proudly boasted their driver’s allegiance to one or the other presidential candidate. For many months afterward, even as long as two years, cars tooled about still decorated with sloganeering. By the middle of 2001, when war became an issue, the slogans morphed into those inane yellow ribbon-thingies, further morphing into the puerile patriotism we’ve come to know.

During the elections of 2004, the sticker shock heightened into furor; the cars I witnessed in the battleground state of Wisconsin were boldly festooned with pro-whomever, cheap-shots-at-the-other-guy, all in red, white and blue. Many gas-guzzlers in evidence were pro-Bush, while the Kerry crowd drove smaller, sometimes older cars, carefully. What this says about the drivers of those vehicles, I’ll leave to your imagination.

Here’s the trend part: Today, very few cars boast bumper stickers or ribbons of any sort. Many signs of patrician patriotism have, like the weathered ribbons, faded. I see very few “W” ovals and only a couple of Kerry/Edwards rectangles in evidence; fewer and fewer ribbons risk exposure to the elements. Somewhere on a quiet suburban night, one can hear – if listening carefully – the susurration of vinyl implements removing political afflictions from trusty steeds.

This is such a quiet revolution, this unstickering of America. What strikes me most is how soon after the last election the colors are fading: one year only. The last time I saw anyone plummet as far and fast as Our Favorite Shrubbery is, she was on a roller coaster. While I fantasize that all the “W” voters have repented, I know better; “Once bitten, twice shy” would be a good rule about now, but humans aren’t that logical. Nevertheless, this reversal of shirtsleeve patriotism shows people are beginning to think again.

And that can’t be a bad thing.