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My growing sense is that, just as he doesn’t care about massive opposition to his war, or opposition to his extremist right-wing domestic social and political agenda, he doesn’t care about any of these issues. His father, much wiser, more diplomatic and shrewd than he is, nevertheless lost his re-election bid. Winston Churchill, who was worshipped as a hero during WW2, lost his re-election bid in peacetime. Just as Saddam is making his last stand, content to die a self-perceived martyr, I think Junior knows full well he won’t win again once the realization of the horrendous damage he has done to America (exemplified by the bullets above) hits the American electorate. Shock and Awe isn’t just a plan for a fast and devastating war to achieve one single purpose, it’s the blueprint for a president who knows he will have no second chance to achieve his obsessive goal of revenge against the Arab world for 9/11 and revenge against the Clinton Democrats for their hugely successful ‘liberal’ transformation of America. He’s blowing his whole wad now. This behaviour is entirely consistent with a psychopathic personality. Like a thief in a jewelry store, the objective is to smash and grab as much as possible and run, and then rationalize, lie, blame others and do whatever needs to be done to avoid the consequences of the crime. Psychopaths are good at this — they are often very intelligent, highly respected people whose zeal and guile can attract devotion from others, some to the point where the followers will take the blame for the psychopath’s actions (Tony Blair, Colin Powell, are you listening?). Psychopaths make powerful cult leaders. They surround themselves with the loyal and like-minded (just look at the savagery and sameness of Bush’s inner circle). The good news, and the bad news, is that the jig will soon be up. If Bush ‘wins’ the Iraq war quickly, he will have to either face the problems above or create another crisis, and then manufacture consent for another misadventure to distract attention from these issues. But history has shown that people grow weary of war quickly, and beyond Iraq and perhaps North Korea, domestic support for further campaigns will rapidly wane. And if the Iraq war drags on or produces huge civilian casualties, that distaste will set in even faster. Under either scenario (and psychopaths are good at studying scenarios) the endgame is near, likely before the November 2004 election. If the economy or the war goes especially badly, or if the dirty tricks like those played on the EU lately can be attributed to Bush, then impeachment could bring the end of the nightmare even sooner (Nixon also showed signs of psychopathy). So what is to be done? Confronting psychopaths can be extremely dangerous, since they can rationalize taking any means to their obsessive ends, and they strike out when defied or challenged (ask the French). Waiting for Bush to self-destruct is an option, but just as Saddam left a million landmines when he knew he was beaten in Kuwait, the costs of waiting out a retreating, beaten Bush might be huge, and the destruction could linger for decades. The damage of Bush’s deficits and environmental pillage are already going to take generations to undo. As in any protracted siege, the best strategy is probably to be selective and focused, and choose one’s battles. Filibustering the nomination of lifelong extremist court appointees is probably a wise choice of battle, as was the defeat of the proposal for Alaskan wilderness drilling. Democrats deserve, for once, credit for their stand on these two important issues. Ironically, perhaps the best strategy for dealing with Bush is the strategy that pacifists proposed in dealing with Saddam: Not a bloody confrontation, not appeasement, not sanctions that just hurt innocent victims, but a constant and close watch to disarm him before he inflicts further ruin. Until he self-destructs in the coming months, George W. Bush needs to be contained . |
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--- My Best 100 Posts --
Preparing for Civilization's End:
What Would Net-Zero Emissions Look Like?
Why Economic Collapse Will Precede Climate Collapse
Being Adaptable: A Reminder List
A Culture of Fear
What Will It Take?
A Future Without Us
Dean Walker Interview (video)
The Mushroom at the End of the World
What Would It Take To Live Sustainably?
The New Political Map (Poster)
Beyond Belief
Complexity and Collapse
Save the World Reading List
Civilization Disease
What a Desolated Earth Looks Like
Giving Up on Environmentalism
Going Vegan
The Dark & Gathering Sameness of the World
The End of Philosophy
The Boiling Frog
Our Culture:
What to Believe Now?
Rogue Primate
Conversation & Silence
The Language of Our Eyes
True Story
Cultural Acedia: When We Can No Longer Care
Useless Advice
Several Short Sentences About Learning
Why I Don't Want to Hear Your Story
A Harvest of Myths
The Qualities of a Great Story
The Trouble With Stories
A Model of Identity & Community
Not Ready to Do What's Needed
A Culture of Dependence
So What's Next
Ten Things to Do When You're Feeling Hopeless
No Use to the World Broken
Living in Another World
Does Language Restrict What We Can Think?
The Value of Conversation Manifesto Nobody Knows Anything
If I Only Had 37 Days
The Only Life We Know
A Long Way Down
No Noble Savages
Figments of Reality
Too Far Ahead
The Rogue Animal
How the World Really Works:
If You Wanted to Sabotage the Elections
Collective Intelligence & Complexity
Ten Things I Wish I'd Learned Earlier
The Problem With Systems
Against Hope (Video)
The Admission of Necessary Ignorance
Several Short Sentences About Jellyfish
A Synopsis of 'Finding the Sweet Spot'
Learning from Indigenous Cultures
The Gift Economy
The Job of the Media
The Wal-Mart Dilemma
The Illusion of the Separate Self:
Happy Now?
This Creature
Did Early Humans Have Selves?
Nothing On Offer Here
Even Simpler and More Hopeless Than That
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What Happens in Vagus
We Have No Choice
Never Comfortable in the Skin of Self
Letting Go of the Story of Me
All There Is, Is This
A Theory of No Mind
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Your Self: An Owner's Manual (Satire)
All the Things I Thought I Knew (Short Story)
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