Op Ed: U.S. A Bankrupt Nation,
War Wastes Threaten 21st Century

"Billions for Bullets and Blood OR Billions NOW for Desperate Needs"

Troops praying before a combat mission in George Bush's war. USAF Photo

(BEND, Ore.) - Choice is always the most painful necessity in any democracy. That essential action is often distorted, even perverted, by overly-strong special-interest demands and the problems they always create.

The Founders set us up on an essential three-part/pattern --Legislative, Executive and Judiciary- to provide rational, reasonable checks-and-balances, guaranteeing a reasonable --and fully democratic-- process.

We have allowed desperate perpetrators to pursue intentional distortion and perversion of that process, for their own malignant ends, not necessarily only political in nature.

The United States is now desperately seized by the unavoidable catastrophic consequences of these protracted and proven-poor choices.

Those 'choices' --sold to both Congress and the whole nation under false pretense and profound misinformation created for the purpose -- have been made primarily under the dollar-potent pretenses and heavy constant pressures of long-prevailing corporate and private business interests.

Each has been sugared and fully-lubricated by cash-in-hand or covert campaign contributions, lavished as corporate political ‘free speech’ --a right procured by the perversion of a Supreme Court decision.

Protracted, determined professional pressures --and finally heavy dollar-impacts-- were required; but their long-sought goal was finally achieved.

The nation now faces its absolutely most difficult choice of the past century: HOW to 'declare victory and come home' rapidly from our most costly overseas empire-building conflicts ever, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We simply cannot continue to fund these conflicts without broad, overwhelming, deep, continuing --perhaps even irretrievable-- damage to our 'once-healthy/wealthy/and/wise economy' --not to mention social, cultural, health and even religious impacts.

That complex-cause double-conflict has wracked up costs of THREE TRILLION DOLLARS by the latest estimate --from Nobel Prize Winner and world-class economist Joseph Stiglitz, accounting for a very broad range, all completely documented.

Those costs will inevitably multiply --to as much or more than SEVEN TRILLION-- as this most-wasting of all wars continues --indefinitely, as Senator McCain sees most probable.

His view is documented by distressing reality of the new American Embassy under construction in Baghdad --the largest in the whole world.

The structure --and its grandiloquent staff -- is entirely unnecessary if we had any plan whatsoever to depart and return the nation to its original owners.

They now are rapidly remediating their previous status under a dictatorship. They should, soon, be ready, eager and able to rebuild a new democracy for themselves, financed by that 'sea of oil' said to be the major motivation for our 'preemptive war'.

We should surely make sure that happens, as an essential prerequisite for our forced departure --as we beat out the bottom of the barrel for desperately-demanded future-funding.

That funding --if, indeed, we continue draining our arteries and veins to supply it-- will come at inevitable neglect for absolutely demanded, damaging if neglected, needs right here at home.

Surely that choice --driven by events, forces, philosophy and neocon concepts initiated in the Reagan era-- will rate, historically as well as conceptually, as among the worst ever made for us by any ostensible leader.

Our nation’s chief fiscal officer, the Comptroller General, has described the United States as "a bankrupt nation".

His only qualification, "If we were a business..." is surely, if inadvertently, revealing a shocking lack of demanded principle for ongoing fiscal matters most essential for our democratic governance to succeed.

Not even the U.S., with all its might and main --and many, many millions of productive workers-- can waste. and waste --AND waste !!-- like that for very long.

Waste is the only way to characterize what is now being done -- to our youth, forced to seek refuge in the armed forces for lack of either meaningful work or advanced education, one dangerously few-and-far/between and the other growing too costly; our reputation as a nation, and our once-lush and luxurious-life American Dream.

Heavy damage is evident, too, for our basic capital resources, and the constant-growh productivity that built our national wealth -- before it was compromised by corporate campaign contributions and other politicized corruption, during 28 years of GOP conservative misrepresentation, misrule, and deplorable mismanagement.

Historically, that has now occurred, according to current historians, on every level possible for incompetence and destructive intent to reach.

It is now completely obvious to a growing number, millions of Americans, that we cannot possibly continue further the vastly-depleting and broadly-damaging expenditures demanded to stay there much longer --whatever the possible motivation or national leadership -- here OR there.

The plain-flat/out fact is that this nation --once the world leader in many ways making our democracy-spreading efforts possible -- now must turn inwards and insistently concentrate, emphasize, accentuate, and devote every possible effort towards restructuring, remediating and restoring our OWN INTERNAL democratic functioning --while we can still do so.

That internal-rescue effort includes rebuilding whatever we can to restore our own fiscal stability, now in danger of complete collapse under pressures initiated thirty years ago, coming due for their unavoidable, inescapable, extremely damaging pay-offs -- no pun!

Inescapable desperate consequences are already driving home their hugely painful impacts, still further continuing our collapse. Economic, social and cultural deepening-desperate events now illuminate --in bright and unavoidable light-of-fact-- what has been taking place during the past several decades, often under intentional deep cover; now forced into our comprehension by unavoidable unfortunate consequences.

Those consequences are understood through widespread media reports and many academic, professional and national association studies -- completely and competently surfacing in multiple channels including the Internet.

Overweening attention from the very special interests busily at work --in every way, at all possible times, and with extremely malign overall success-- has made this distressing situation highly visible, for those who will but look for themselves.

Congressional attention has now been re-focused --for those not completely riveted into unchangeable posture by an outstretched hand awaiting that lavish corporate campaign contribution.

The same posture is widely obvious in every state capital, with locally-trusted and informed legislators also extending that open hand for the same sticky stuff.

Few state representative assemblies have tightened and 'adjusted' their own ethics rules and regulations --even in the face of such outrageous outlays from those they should charter, regulate and must control for the commonweal.

The onrushing recession is forcing serious cutbacks in lavishing cash for procuring further deregulation, privatization and globalization which has already forced millions of American jobs overseas to low-pay labor locations.

Business is hard-headed, realistic, and entirely insensitive to anything but its own dollar interests. Already the inevitable shrinkage and pull-back of corporate cash campaign contributions is undergoing a sudden, drastic diminution as real depression looms inexorably behind the already-here recession.

Major social scientists and others cognizant of all these complex forces see an exceptionally strong movement springing up for solid progressive actions now, forced by all these factors, and inevitable as the now highly-obvious collapse of the Bush cabal continues unabated.

Can it be --at long last-- that Americans have, simply, had enough? Are we, finally, stepping out to take back our government --and with it, control of our own future? Those are deeply serious questions now being explored by leading Americans, of all possible political principles --and even some few perceptive, sensitive, wide-awake politicians.

It has now become a simply unavoidable and most damning final choice: Billions for Bullets and Blood OR Billions NOW for Desperate Needs.

Finally, irrefutably, irresistibly, irrevocably, choice MUST now come down to 'Empire and bullets and blood' OR 'Return to our roots as we rebuild our democracy.'

Impeachment of perpetrators intentionally threatening our democracy for their own malignant purposes is the next demanded step --as irrefutable, irresistible --and surely irrevocable-- as is our only still-open choice for a 21st Century future.

We can hardly move ahead rationally and responsibly with such antidemocratic wreckage --and our own remorse-- clearly blocking the future and possibly even threatening us --AGAIN!

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Reader’s Note:

Quotes are shortened, condensed, summarized, with source and verbatim statement available on request with ID to editor. That usage is widely employed for tight-space Op Ed and similar presentation.

Many diverse Internet, book, newspaper and magazine sources were used as documentation and guidance for this Op Ed.

List is too long for space here, but is complete (with Internet links where possible) and also available on request with ID to editor.Writer’s longtime professional files, in culling status, were also used, with access where still possible also on request with ID.