Reply #29: hit the nail on the head [View All]

This is so accurate and encapsulates the cause of American empire. We have attained supremacy largely by default. The point has been reached, however, where we can no longer count on the developing world to acquiesce. Maintaining our luxurious standard of living can only come at the expense of most of the rest of the world living at the subsistence level or below. The neo-cons have made the first major, overt step toward stopping the rest of the world from claiming their share of the world's prosperity at the expense of our gluttonous advantage.

It is long overdue for us to consciously make a choice about priorities. Where does moral propriety land on the scale in relation to economic well-being and stability? Given the state of our shallow culture, I'm not optimistic such a debate in any realistic terms will ever register on the average American's radar screen. Given the evidence of our materialistic culture, I'm not optimistic that even if such a debate were to occur, that moral propriety would place very highly.

In my view, the vast majority of Americans know on some level that the given pretext for the war on Iraq was phony. Yet, they did nothing to stop it then and do nothing now and have only begun grumbling on a superficial level out of annoyance with having to be confronted with the dirty details of it, due largely to the current administration's incompetence in executing their plan.

The fact of the matter is that our nation's history is clear evidence that we have always, unconsciously and through self-deception, placed our economic prosperity above a regard for moral propriety. Will we ever consciously decide that enough is enough?