we have heard some things about the environment and the energy crisis from the two major candidates, but nothing of substance. for example, you would never know that the leading user of oil is the military. of course, both candidates want to increase the military budget. how can you battle the energy companies and fight wars? and the "average american" is never at fault. obama did mention that "we are 3% of the world's population, but we use 25% of the world's energy," but he put no responsibility for this on the military and the american people. who is it that's driving all those cars? isn't there something we could do to live in a more sane and environmentally friendly manner? supposedly, something called the "middle class" is an innocent bystander in all of this, but who brought all the consumer goods, who used all the credit cards, who has all the cars?
we are hearing a lot about health care, but neither candidate has mentioned the importance of eating well and exercising. neither of them has mentioned how our corporations and military have polluted our air, our water, and our food, hence increasing the preponderance of a number of fatal diseases. they will not mention the links between a meat centered diet and heart disease. neither of them will touch the issue of childhood obesity and its links to television and video games. neither has attacked agribusiness or said a word about the dying small farmer.
labor unions have not been mentioned. worker's rights have not been mentioned. just how are workers supposed to defend thermselves against giant corporations without a strong labor movement? you would never know, that in a capitalist state, there is always a struggle between labor and capital. but, of course, there is no such thing as "the working class,'" so i suppose it makes sense that labor unions are never mentioned.
neither has mentioned the idea of war crimes. obama opposed the war in iraq not because it is a crime to invade a nation and bomb it, but because it was a "mistake" that "diverted" our attention from "the war on terror." he also wants to add troops in afghanistan, but that war is also criminal. mccain, of course, supports all things military. connected to this, impeachment is never mentioned, for in order to impeach someone, you would have to first show that they have committed a crime. but, in our system, no one ever does anything criminal. according to obama, the war in iraq was a mistake, but you can't impeach someone for making a mistake. last year, i made a mistake by forgetting my house keys. annoying though it was, it was not an impeachable offense. so, "they" commit war crimes, while "we" make mistakes. this reasoning accepts the underlying system as being fundamentally good. it also accepts the idea that each leader means well, though some may make mistakes from time to time. so, the discourse runs from the idea that we never do anything wrong to the idea that we always mean well, but are sometimes mistaken. hence, bush and mccain were "wrong" on iraq, and that is the extent of their fault. and you can't impeach someone for being "wrong."
think of it. we don't say that hitler made a mistake when he invaded poland. we don't say the concentration camps were a mistake. we don't say that stalin made a mistake when he filled up the gulag. when our media attacked hussein, they never said that he made mistakes. these men and others are talked about as criminals. it says much about our collective denial and hypocrisy as a society that we do not honestly examine the behaviors of our government. also, we do not use a language that properly explains what our leaders are guilty of. as long as this is so, we can not deal with our problems. if bombing iraq is only a mistake, and not a crime, than all we need to do is bomb iran instead. than, all will be well.
there is so much more. no one ever mentions prison reform anymore. both are for the death penalty. neither has uttered a word about our total neglect of new orleans in the wake of katrina. this certainly says much about our racial and class bias, but apparently, doesn't warrant acknowledgement. neither has mentioned police brutality. you would never know there was racism in the american system of policing. both tell us that our soldiers have performed "brilliantly" in iraq, but neither has mentioned torture at abu ghraib. is it "brilliant" to drop bombs on people from thousands of feet in the air? why is it brilliant for us to drop bombs on people, but criminal for them to fly planes into buildings? this hypocrisy was not addressed, and likely never will be within our mainstream political structure.
what will be addressed?
little to nothing, as usual.
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