Stephen Miller - Selling the Fear

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In the recent debate among Democratic candidates for the presidency, moderator Brian Williams asked them, 'Who are the three worst enemies of America?"

The truth is, America has no "enemies" but those we make ourselves. A little recent history is in order. After the collapse of the Soviet Empire, it looked like giant arms budgets, nuclear standoffs, and cruel proxy wars would be things of the past. We would now turn to quality-of-life issues like education, ameliorating poverty, breakthroughs in medicine and health care services, and dealing with pollution and global warming. We had the visions of Hubble and the promise of space exploration, the birth of the Web, and dreams of tele-operation and virtual reality, and a dizzying acceleration in scientific advances that would bring us magical gadgets and startling discoveries.

But something happened along the way, and now, after six years of Bush and Cheney, we are mired in fearful talk of "enemies" who "want to kill us"; once again we spend half our nation's budget on war preparations—more than all other countries combined. How could the so-powerful be so insecure? What happened to the glorious post-Cold-War future we were envisioning? Well, for one thing, we have a new model of "enemy"—shadowy networks of stateless plotters and assassins; so now we shall always be insecure no matter how vastly more powerful our military is than all others; it is a formula for the permanence of Eisenhower's "military industrial complex".

more...

http://baltimorechronicle.com/2007/050507Miller.shtml

[rodeodance]

1. we are insecure, as Paul says, cause of our foreign policies-and

we fear talking about them-instead people laugh and clap as self-rightous Rudy disses Paul