On Books

I finally finished George Friedman's The Next 100 Years.It was not so hard to read as the time it took me implies. I read several other books during this time, too. What was difficult the the science fiction flavor his projections had. It felt a little Star Trekky after about 2050. I could not, however, to the end of it get past the feeling that the advances in space, robotics, and energy that will allow the United States to remain the greatest nation on earth are all being jeopardized by the current administration. Our economy is still in the tank, people are still loosing their jobs and homes, and Obama still wants to take over our health care system and bankrupt the county. He is still undermining national security, tying the hands of the military at war in Afghanistan, and trying to let gays serve openly in the military. He still plans to halt the space program, and today I read that that is going to cost 23,000 more jobs. At least.

And where is our future headed if our security and economy are devastated to the point that it will take a generation or more to recover, if we ever can?

Friedman's starting point for his future scenario is that politicians and rulers are essentially limited in what they can do with their power. He compares it to a chess board where theoretically there are an infinite number of moves, but realistically there are only so many that will allow a player to win the game. And all rulers and politicians play to win. Until now.

It would seem that Obama is willing to loose the game in order to make certain moves that support his ideology. His thinking must be that if he succeeds with health care legislation, even if he and his party loose the next elections, he will have accomplished great things that future congresses and presidents will not be able to reverse. The problem is he may be right, and in doing so, he will insure the destruction of this great nation. But what conservatives see as destruction, Marxists view as victory. He is no Bill Clinton whose objective was purely political, just stay in office so back track if necessary. No, he is an ideologue who has won public office to change America, and he means it in the most literal way. It is not about him, although without a doubt he is taking every advantage of all the trappings and pleasures of the office. For Obama, it is about the cause which means he is not playing by the same game plan Americans are use to their president's playing by. He is not a politician in the traditional American sense of the word. He is an ideologue in the scariest sense of the word.
Health care is going to pass, by hook or crook, or both, and the future of this country is going to look nothing like the greatness that Friedman imagines in his book.

Also reading P.D. James'sTalking About Detective
Fiction. Have to lighten up a little.