Elkern on the woes of our land

Wow, and Thanks, Walrus! Very well stated, and I strongly agree. IMO, there are three root causes of the hole(s) we have dug for ourselves:

1. “Natural” decline (organizational senescence).
Lotsa ways to phrase it: “Good Times create Weak Men”; “Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”, etc, but these factors didn’t have to lead to such a quick decline.

2. The MBA Revolution.

Promoting “Shareholder Value” as an almost theological moral tenet destroyed the economic and social fabric of the USA in only a few decades. Once Upon a Time, hourly workers in the USA could support a family, buy a house, and send their kids to college. Wall Street made a few $T lending China money to build factories, because they didn’t want to pay US Union wages.

Walrus mentions Boeing, which was destroyed by MBAism after the bean-counters wrested control from the Engineers. Private Equity (Vulture Capital) killed Toys-R-Us and lots of other companies.

And as Millionaires became Billionaires, they were able to purchase more “influence” in our Governments (Fed, State, Local), grabbing no-bid contracts, and neutering agencies like OSHA, EPA, and FDA. (don’t eat meat from Boar’s Head…)

3. The NeoCons.

IMO, “the NeoCons” were a Cabal that slowly gained control of every aspect of US Foreign Policy decision making across the last few decades. I don’t believe that it’s a coincidence that their policies always seem to benefit Israel (or its most right-wing factions).

They ingratiated themselves to Reagan by supporting right-wing forces in Latin America (see: Iran-Contra). Bush Sr. had enough FP experience to resist their radicalism; he refused to occupy Iraq, and was probably sincere when he promised Gorbachev that NATO wouldn’t expand eastwards to Russia borders.

It seems likely to me – though I have no proof – that NeoCon disappointment with GHWB’s lack of enthusiasm for their Projects contributed to the election of Clinton in 1992. But [most of?] the NeoCons from the Reagan-Bush years retreated to cushy jobs in various Institutes until 2001, when Dick Cheney brought them back into power. The Invasion and Occupation of Iraq was their crowning achievement; it was also our Crossing of the Rubicon, the point when the USA changed from Republic to Empire.

Part of the NeoCon “Project for a New American Century” was to replace the people in US FP bureaucracies with their own ideologues. During the Iraq mess, people in the State Department, the CIA, the Pentagon, etc, who actually understood the countries and cultures of the Middle East – and who spoke the local languages – were sidelined and replaced by NeoCon loyalists with no such knowledge. (This is the clearest example of *intentional destruction* of institutional wisdom – bring it all back to Walrus’ lamentation of how & why our FP is now so stupid & counter-productive).

Americans came to view our Invasion & Occupation of Iraq as a complete failure, but from the NeoCons perspective, it was a great success. Iraq was destroyed – economically, socially, technologically – so it would no longer be able to assist Palestinians with funds or weapons, much less threaten Israel with missiles. Muslims and Arabs now saw the USA as an even bigger threat than Israel. The USA was locked into being a National Security State; our soldiers are now Warriors, our diplomats are now ignored.

I didn’t recognize it at the time, but looking back, it appears that Hillary Clinton – as Secretary of State – became a conduit for NeoCons to insinuate themselves into Democratic administrations (Victoria Nuland is the obvious example, but the takeover seems pretty complete now). This is probably correlated with the Clinton’s financial power within the Party.

One of the reasons that Trump was able to capture the GOP in 2016 was that he was not saddled with loyalty to the traditional GOP financial base – nor the NeoCon policies which had proved so disastrous under Bush/Cheney. But Trump is not immune to, ah, “financial incentives”, so Sheldon Adelson was able to rent a Cabinet seat for John Bolton. Luckily, Trump & Bolton couldn’t get along; sadly, the MSM has used that as a way to rehabilitate Bolton. Bottom line: I have no faith that Trump can protect us from the NeoCons.

There is one factor which kinda unites the three above – the one that President Eisenhower warned us about in his Farewell Speech. The Military-Industrial-[Congressional] Complex is in some ways the nexus of (1) inevitable collapse of huge complex organizations, (2) the corrupting power of Big Money, and (3) a Cabal that wants to use US military power for their own purposes.

I wish I saw a way out of all this. I am deeply pessimistic about the future of my country and the world, and the fact that I won’t live to see the worst of it provides me little solace.

Comment: Obviously this a response by elkern to Walrus’ post entitled “It’s over; Pogo Was Right” from earlier in the month. (https://turcopolier.com/its-over-pogo-was-right-by-walrus/). Both F&L and I found elkern’s response inciteful.

I agree with elkern’s dismissal of the idea of “natural” decline (organizational senescence). That’s a path of deliberate neglect. No one has to lose their gumption without giving it up voluntarily.

I also agree with elkern’s critique of the MBA Revolution. I had to take a business course as an ROTC requirement. Without a hint of shame, our professor told us that if we take nothing from this course take this. “The business of business is to make money.” He repeated it several times. Walrus gave the recent example of Boeing where the business whiz kids.

The NeoCons go much further back in our history than the last few decades. It is inherent in our belief in Manifest Destiny as we expanded across the continent. McKinley and Roosevelt pushed it all the way to China. Our periods of isolationism were fleeting. Elkern laments the loss of craftsmanship and artistry in our statesmanship. That condition was also fleeting in our long history… and it is sorely missed.

What say the members of this committee of correspondence? Are you all as sad and despondent about our future as Walrus and elkern? What are your solutions to our vast dilemmas.

TTG