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[nadinbrzezinski]

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President Barack Obama.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest
Washington D.C., DC 20500-0004

Mr. President:

I am contacting you because of many issues that have bothered both my husband and I for a while. If the truth is to be told the compromise with the Republicans over the tax breaks for the wealthy was the last straw for us, and why we are returning to you the memorabilia. We believed in you, but not anymore.

I know I could just do that, and leave it at that, but instead I feel I need to add something to the conversation. Sadly, it does not matter what the People want, there are no real changes. That said I understand some of the systemic reasons why. So with no further…

I understand that we are living through a very serious Constitutional Crisis in the US. This is the worst political warfare we have seen since 1859. I do not believe I need to remind you what came next. But the reality is that you will not be able to get much done, and it is time to realize this. This is about the future of the country. It is that simple. We have two different views of this. On the one hand the party of special interests, who make no bones about their goals. They want to return the US to 1928 and finally reverse the horrors of the New Deal. I suspect that your agreement on Social Security will make that goal far more achievable now. Yes, Grover Norquist is succeding in drowning the government in the bathtub.

At this point though I have no idea what your party stands for. I used to believe it stood for the working man, and against the same special interest that are part of the GOP. It seems to me that the Special Interests have convinced the rest of the political class that theirs is the only way.

Of course there is this extremely disconnect from the base that got you and others elected. We get lectured regularly, while promises are broken. We have nowhere to go. Well, US History is also instructive on this. Sooner or later, and I am betting at this point sooner, the left will once again engage in movement politics. They will learn the great lesson of Goldwater, and it is no coincidence that the Conservative movement politics is just now reaching its zenith, while the left seems paralyzed. The left was “destroyed” between 1968 and 1972. Sooner, rather than later, that same group will realize that the future is not with charismatic leaders, but with hard work. At this point I should tell you that the first time I voted was in Mexico. Back then we knew that it really didn’t matter who was elected. The elites made their mind, and nothing would change that. We have reached the same point in the US.

We have also reached that political warfare where you will not be able to get anything done. It is on purpose, and the faster you realize this, the better. They don’t like you and they do not want to negotiate with you. This is why the Republicans took workers and the unemployed hostage, and you Sir, just negotiated with terrorists.

Myths and the Economy.

There is more, DC has been overtaken by economic myths. And you Sir are functioning in this mythology. So here is my effort at dismantling some of this, suffice it to say, I have no hope of succeeding.

The Rich create jobs, why we have to keep lowering their taxes:

It would almost be funny if it wasn’t tragic. This has been the mantra of the last ten years. In fact, the last thirty years saw the rise of supply side economics and disaster capitalism. Now perhaps I am living in an alternate reality, but the Bush years saw pretty anemic economic growth. Yet, there were tax cuts for the very wealthy.

So what creates jobs? As a former small business owner I have the real answer. DEMAND. If nobody buys my product, I will not hire people to produce it. Yes, it is that simple… demand needs to be created. And more tax cuts will not create demand. Fact is that supply side economics was a disaster for President U.S Grant, for President Hoover, for President Reagan, and yes for President Bush Junior. You expect this to change on your watch? I really don’t, and this will become the American Lost Decade.

This brings me to tax cuts. They do not create jobs. Again this is trickledown economics, supply side. The Historic Evidence is overwhelming Sir. The people know they are being peed upon, and that is not rain.

Unions, we are told by the Republicans, are bad for the United States. They have been fighting to destroy them since oh Taft Hartley. It is time to wake and smell the roses, good jobs create demand. Living wages create demand. This is the true engine of economic growth. People living in a service economy, with minimum wages, do not have money to do more than just buy the basics. You want demand, you need good wages.

Free trade is not that free. Believe it or not other countries still defend their basic economic health. We don’t. People at the kitchen table get it. Their jobs are going abroad. They may not get the why, or how, or the basis of the arguments for this. They know that they have gone from being able to make the mortgage to not being able to. It is time to stop these free trade agreements, and to return to a more protective economy. Either extreme is not good for economic health. And we are living through an almost religious belief in “market economics.” For god sakes not even Adam Smith believed in this tripe and he understood the need to protect internal markets.

Finally Globalization has been a disaster, not just in the US, but this race to the bottom needs to stop. This is literally killing the American economy by a thousand cuts. It is time to revise what is obviously not working.

Empire in Decline…

Now this brings me to a reality of the new world order. The American Century is over. We just need to wake up to that final reality. But the Empire is in decline. It is time for you Sir to show leadership and explain to a very ignorant people, at times willfully so, why we are no longer number one.

There are markers we have crossed on the way to decline already. It does not matter if one uses Gibbon’s Rise and Fall, or Kennedy’s Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, truth is we are no longer top dog. Professor Kennedy made the point in the book that the most important marker for modern powers is steel production. We stopped making this a matter of national security back in the 1980s, and now China out-produces us. We stopped doing something back then that we need to return to. This is to have a coherent industrial policy. This might even mean tariffs at the border to protect essential industries.

This also brings us to the other critical matter. That is the fact that globalization has encouraged US Companies to leave for points south or east, and we have encouraged this self defeating policy with tax policy that rewards companies for taking operations abroad. That has to stop, period.

Now on to the Afghanistan War. At this point we can no longer afford it. It is indeed where Empires go to die. Yes, you may consider this an essential war, but reality is that whatever the goal of the week is, they keep shifting. Why? They cannot be achieved. This is a country in our imagination. Those of us who have been paying attention know this. Afghanistan is a clan based society and building a modern state is an fool’s errand.

Of course the mission could and should have ended at Tora Bora. Not everybody in this country spends evenings watching Dancing with the Stars. Some of us actually pay attention, and you might be familiar with the Atlantic Article on the Battle of Tora Bora. But since it did not end then, it has become an unfounded war that has bankrupted the country. Lyndon Johnson learned that you cannot both fund guns and butter. Well, we have gone down the trap laid by Norquist, were we will not be able to afford either.

Other nations know that we are no longer the strong super power. This is why alliances are already shifting. This is also why talk of replacing the Reserve Currency is happening and increasing in volume. In other words the world is changing like shifting sands.

As a leader you need to recognize that it is time to prepare this country for the eventual point when it will be official. We are a second tier power. We also need to recall troops first from Afghanistan, and Iraq, but also from NATO. And we also need to quite frankly cut down programs DOD does not want, the Osprey comes to mind. Chiefly we need to stop funding our wars using mercenary troops. We also need to face facts and realize that this happens to all Empires, and all mythical believes in Exceptionalism will not change that.

Sincerely yours,

Nadin XXXX.
MA in History, San Diego State University.

PS. Your deal with the Republicans was a pyrrhic victory.

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Feel free to use if you want... but this is time to grow up... and realize NOBODY represents us...

As I said in the letter, it really does not matter who you vote for. Time for some good ol' fashioned movement politics.