The business of America: Crony capitalism or entrepreneurship?
The business of America is business. That sentence, uttered by Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s, has been paraphrased or insinuated by just about every American officeholder or candidate for federal or state office since then.
But what kind of business? Entrepreurship or crony capitalism? The Silicon Valley model, despite its legendary excesses, doesn't hire people or bankroll their ideas based on who they know or who their father was. SV traffics in intellectual capital--both creating and spending it--and intellectual capital, unlike oil, is a renewable resource.
The Internet, as webpreneurs discovered early on-- is all about disseminating information. Crony capitalism is all about hording it. Spamming aside, information on the Web becomes more valuable when it is shared. Add Chinese students to the mix of users, for instance, and American surfers benefit.
Jobless in Silicon Valley? Try Iraq
The American economy grew at a 2.4 pace last quarter--with military spending responsible for 70 percent of that growth. Is that Bush's model of choice for sustainable growth? And is the centerpiece of the Republicans' jobs program rebuilding the infrastrucure of Iraq and whatever country the neocons decide to hit next. Workers of the world--or the American heartland: Pack your bags, sign on for an overseas assignment with Halliburton or Bechtel--and just be sure you don't step on a landmine while you're over there.
Wesley Clark: Restoring the American Dream?
Democrats have been living with borderline depression since November 2000, and since 911, they've had plenty of Republican, Independent and apolitical company. Hope is one of the missing restoratives. It's one thing to live with increased airline security. I'm willing to take off my shoes before boarding a plane if it means people are--or even feel like they are--safer. But crony capitalism, government secrecy, the stifling of dissent, an expanding military sector, and the collapse of all manner of services at home are a different story.
Enter Wesley Clark--or at least I hope he enters the presidential contest. Like Schwartzkopf, Zinni and even--we used to suspect--Powell, he's an ex-general who views war as a last rather than a first resort--as a failure rather than a triumph. This role reversal is one of the most stunning things about our nation's current foreign policy. The closest virtual warriors Wolfowitz and Cheney ever got to war was playing with toy soldiers when they were kids, and wargaming when they were adults. Cheney, you may recall elected not to serve in Vietnam, because "I had other priorities at the time." Meanwhile, the actual warriors (Clark, for instance, has purple hearts and silver and bronze medals from the Nam) cringe at the sight of blood that is unnecessarily shed.
"We went into Iraq under false pretenses . . . You call it deceptive advertising, you'd be taking [Bush] to the Better Business Bureau if you bought a washing machine the way we went into the war in Iraq," the former NATO commander told CNN.
"We haven't made America safer by this. We've made America more engaged, more vulnerable, more committed, less able to respond. We've lost a tremendous amount of goodwill around the world."
I long for the resurrection of the kinder, gentler and yes--more inspiring American dream--not the neocon nightmare of empire and our taking over the world for its own good. So what was wrong with the Peace Corps, Ben and Jerry, cultural exchanges and other instruments of what historian Joseph Nye calls America's soft power?
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