All Set to Sink

The new Titanic is all set to sink in early 2009.

Captain Dick Cheney had left no stone unturned to ensure this outcome. To start with the ship was loaded with heaviest ideologues that had never been within arms length of any war but were all dressed up to wage the final war on Evil. They were immediately sucked in by the Drug runners, Gun runners, self made Messiah’s and Rogues who seek the world to be at War for Ever.

The ship King GB2 will quickly drown without trace but will long serve a treasure trove for those who will study lasting effects of the demised ship. And for those who want our politics to be better, transparent and democratic.

Should the war making authority be entrusted to the President or anyone person or institution? The Bush regime is a slam dunk case of wielding of power by a group of people who could manipulate the national political system by financial muscle, majority driven arm twisting and emotional blackmail. Remember, For us or against us, Axis of Evil, Embolden the Enemy, Polls are useless and branding of all criticism of war as unpatriotic.

The subsequent events proved that they were incompetent, not worthy of power and voting public was duped.

In the English colonial style Tony Blair manipulated the richest, the most compassionate, most powerful and freest nation on the face of earth to lose its reputation as the champion of freedom. Like the classical English colonialists we are now known as a capitalist marauding, greedy and culturally insensitive nation. It will take decades to win it our reputation back.

Once is enough. We can not afford this again.

It is a time bound tradition that a civilian should be a Commander in Chief of armed forces. Is it time to rethink this? While we seek to specialize in all walks of life, why would we entrust the trigger of our nuclear weapons to a cowboy like Bush or a philanderer like Clinton. May be we need to devise a mechanism under which a binding referendum is held once a year to start, continue or discontinue a war.

Has the time to devolute the Federal power come? Running a foreign policy from Washington has proved to be a disaster. It may be the best thing in the world to let California and others to run the Mexican border policy. Or New York and others could control Canadian side. Washington may be left to deal with islands all over the world with a population of less than 500. Indivisible sovereignty is relic of the past in a very small world where legislatures who take ages to act need to be replaced faster institutions.

Democracy and Capitalism are the best available current human endeavors. But when wrapped with capitalistic needs of ideologues and their corporate backers, it becomes a lightening rod for other cultures. Intertwined with guns, bombs and greedy projects to generate capital have proved to be sperm for progenies like Al Qaida, Hamas, and rogue nations like Sudan, Libya, N. Korea and degenerate leaders Like Bin Laden, Milosevic, Idi Amin and the clown of N. Korea.

America may have been left a great legacy by Bush and his lost team by providing a great chance at remedying the ills that plague our political system.