Would anyone run a business this way?

Most of the sage prognosticators over the last eight years have pointed to stagnation as the legacy of a government mired by division and obstinacy.

It’s more than that.

This backwards-looking government has been notorious for its failure to recognize the truth about anything it didn’t want to see and hurrying us along to the Dark Ages.

Mostly, we have found ourselves in a moral, intellectual and cultural vacuum predicated on the fact that the leadership of the country sets the tone.

And, sadly, this government no ear for anything other than its own self-aggrandizement that benefited a rare few.

Part of this stasis emanates from the fact that there seems to be a suspension of real international news as compared to overseas units say of the BBC or Reuters.

One could make a case for our hearing what the government wants us to hear!...

We are lucky to have a few minutes of International news through the networks and that news tends to deal with the War in the Middle East or news of disasters.

Seldom do we hear much about the real strides in the rest of the world or what is going on culturally or via science or technology.

This disinterest on what is going on elsewhere is perhaps a further symptom of our falling behind in education which is widely known and accepted with little purposeful action being taken to reverse this diagnosis.

Then, too, are the challenges.

We know that we face challenges from global warming but for the most part we have chosen policies that minimize the need to do anything about it. We still follow the oil uber alles scenario with no Crusade being planned to address the issues raised. Oh, yes, there are minor efforts being talked up but they will literally have minimal effect on the direction temperatures are headed. And if we do nothing about the rise in temperatures due to increased carbon byproducts in the air and water, we can expect all of the other backlashes from nature.

In the areas of science and technology, progress is equally glum.

America has filed for fewer patents than in any time in recent memory—a certain barometer for our failing technological edge.

We have also failed to keep pace with the rest of the world in scientific endeavor.

America has taken a back seat in engineering, too.

Today, we have fewer than 100,000 active engineers—fewer than in Israel, a country with only 5 million people compared with America’s 300 million.

However, by the same yardstick, China is graduating 600 000 engineers a year, giving them a tremendous advantage.

Part of this has to do with what appears to be a disdain on the part of government for science and technology and more of a leaning towards Creationism and spirituality, where most scientists tend to agree that these forces do not operate in the same sphere and should not be in conflict.

But in order to cater to a nation where spiritual ideas have sway at the very top of government, our forward momentum forward has been upended and our progress thrown into reverse which is diametrically opposed to the trend line in other progressive societies throughout the world.

Today, for example, America with all its wealth has been unable to bring back New Orleans to where it was before hurricane Katrina; yet, in China, what was considered a backwards nation,, over the last twenty years that have built a hundred new cities of over 1 million people.

This is the kind of stark comparisons that are out there if we were to examine them.

It seems that instead of aiding and abetting mankind, the thrust of this government has been to impose its will on others. And in so doing, we have spent a trillion dollars that by the same token, has been denied to the improvements in all areas needed in this country to improve schools, science, technology, infrastructure.

The comparisons are devastating.

Despite this investment overseas, we have not derived any kind of benefit. We have not helped the Afghan people or the Iraqis; in fact, we have only made matters worse!

At the same time, NAFTA and other trade bills have seen our jobs go to China and India and agreements with other geographic parts of the world have deprived us of our ability to compete on a world stage.

At the same time, by building up India and China, we have made them serious competitors for our own resources which will ultimately lead to increased future conflicts.

Overall, it is hard to see how this country is moving forward in a logical or coherent way; instead, it seems to “zig” and “zag” to satisfy local or special interests. As a result, the bulk of our society is made to suffer for the benefit of the few.

This seems in contention with the vows that a president takes to do that which is in the best interests of the country and its people.

Nonetheless, there has been a paucity of debate on the subject and anyone who dares to mention that we are not pursuing the best course, is considered a traitor or what is worse, a “traitor.”

Change is long overdue. The question is whether a well-intentioned people can reverse not only the stasis of the last eight years, but a blindness of vision and a refusal to see the truth.

Les Aaron.