2/15/10 Debate at CU: Karl Rove and Dr. Howard Dean

Tonight I was lucky [or unlucky some might say] enough to attend a debate hosted at CU between former Bush strategist and eminent neoconservative Karl Rove and former Vermont governor, Democratic Party Chairman, and presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean. As one might imagine, the discussion was extremely heated and opinionated, given both their respective political leanings as well as the general climate here in Boulder. While unfortunately much of their intention was lost in a cloud of partisan squabbling and personal cheap shots, there was some insight into the current American political machine to be gleamed.

One point which struck me as particularly interesting and unfortunate was the apparent refusal on either side to take a strong, progressively independent viewpoint on almost anything, rather, both men seemed to stick closely to established party norms and expectations. This is a flaw in Mr. Obama's legislation I have seen recently as well, and I'm afraid really effective political action in America may be slowly lost to this sort of centrist "please everybody" apathy. While I tend to strongly disagree with Mr. Rove on topics ranging from legislation to foreign policy to domestic economics, I will say he is a vastly superior public speaker to his confidant George Bush and has an impressive array of propaganda-oriented facts at his disposal.

What gets lost in this mile-a-minute rhetoric, however, is the fundamental flaw in his logic; that all the debt and recession and ills of America can be attributed to irresponsible liberal spending and short-sighted policy. What is truly short-sighted is his blind trust in that the momentum of the deeply flawed American economic machine will somehow keep things afloat without any sort of outside stimulus. Mr. Rove's repeated reference to the unnecessary government spending spree of the recent Obama administration Stimulus Package is not only inflammatory, but also disrespectful to the brilliant economists who dug us most of the way out of a deep recession in the only possible way. While distrust in the government coupled with apathy to change the status quo has always been the double-edged sword of American politics, the current situation is particularly dire.

The partisan derisiveness which has framed the last few major elections was clearly evident in Mr. Rove and Dr. Dean's behavior, and the audience sadly behaved in a similar way, making me both proud and also deeply embarrassed to be from Boulder. The booing and shouting, the idiot in front of us who shouted "you're both scumbags!" at the end... it all made us seem so, well, 2-dimensional. In order to change the current system, we need to first logically and coherently understand its workings, minus the irrational emotion component. Most of the discussion on domestic affairs was predictably hung-up on trivialities of Obama's healthcare plan, the behavior of Wall Street exec's, et cetera. What was interesting, however, was how when the discussion turned to foreign policy, both sides came to a surprising level of agreement, choosing to embrace the current attitude of America as the worlds valiant policeman rather than accept a little hubris and sense of place.

Have we learned nothing? Haven't the past 50 years of largely unprovoked, policy-oriented military strikes taught us anything? Clearly we are not willing to embrace a safer, more stable post Cold War world in which we DON'T have to have absolute control and influence over every other large foreign country. How much longer will the American public believe the guise of humanitarian intervention and grave threats to our security? At this point, the only major threat to American security is ourselves, and more immediately, our budget. When we can embrace enough humility and insight to actually learn something from the success [and also failures] of the large, successful European and Asian republics, than perhaps the partisan squabbling will cease.

In terms of domestic policies in need of major immediate overhaul, the healthcare bill is grave in its implications on American well-being and economic prosperity, but almost comical in its centrist -oriented ineffectiveness. Both sides seemed lost to the fact that the current plan is a weak compromise incorporating the ineffective aspects of both the privatized and public options. Perhaps it is some remnant of the Cold War hysteria, or maybe a genuine believe in the overriding superiority of our system, but Americans refuse to embrace an obviously superior and more effective system than hints of "socialism" in the slightest.

Never mind that everything from our agricultural system to our recent bank bail-out to our public services are subsidized in a way that makes Communist Russia look like modern-day Sweden, we refuse to recognize anything we have been fed to believe is "necessary." Necessary much of it is, in fact, if you want to see what happens when a bone-headed voter base refuses to raise taxes to fight a massive city deficit, just look at the current situation in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where utilities are disconnecting power to save money. Hopefully Focus on the Family get their lights turned off first. Then again, as if they needed light to concoct their agenda of hate and intolerance.

The fact that we are the only civilized country in the world without socialized health care, never mind that September 11th rescue workers who were denied health care in America can go to Cuba and get essentially free medicine of superior quality for free as visitors, we have it all figured out right and it's the rest of the world that needs to get with the program. It seems our ego is equalled only by our stupidity, to admit mistakes an move on, instead of focusing so much on blame and retribution. It seems the media has forgotten largely about the current war in Afghanistan, partly a conflict inherited by Obama, but also one of his creation and continued support.

We are stuck in a costly and ineffective occupation overseas which threatens not only our budget but our reputation in the Islamic world as well. In attempting to eradicate a rogue extremist minority among a war-torn people who just want to be left alone, we are in turn breeding an new culture of hate, one that has seen the greed and inefficiency of the American political machine and wants change. I have tremendous respect for the people in Washington and across our country who are working for compassionate, progressive change, but it is often a case of too little too late. As Dr. Dean said in his closing remarks, "I am tired of being quiet and right. The time is now and we have to be loud and right!" The world is looking very closely and critically at American foreign and domestic policy right now and we cannot afford to tarnish our reputation further with bullish, unilateral militiary operations and a bone-headed economic policyy that refuses to recognize the neccesity of taxation.

In his talk, Mr. Rove pointed out that we have the highest level of corporate taxation in the free world, to which I would counter that we also have the most powerful and important corporations in the free world, which need a similar level of management. If you want to see what happens when giant corporations are allowed to grow completely unfettered by governement regulation, just look at the curent situation in China, where the post communist free market economy has been ruled laregly by a hedonistic greed which ignores social and environmental impacts. The environmental degredation, the gross misdistribution of wealth, the rampant greed and corruption at a high level, this is should all be forshadowing of where we are headed if he don't do something immediately. In most successful republics, the government is afraid of the people, but here it seems we are afraid of the government, or perhaps just apathetic.

The magnitude and gravity of the current situation is lost on many Americans, I'm afraid, and beyond irrational extremists like the current "tea party" movement, we seem unable to catalyze and significant change. While I disagree with president Obama on many things, I think fundamentally he is a highly intelligent and pragmatic man, and I have a deep respect for both the voters who put him in office and his work. His actions are largely guided by what I like to call pragmatic compassion, or a regard for human welfare and the physical and economic health of our populace, a refreshing change from the deeply embarrasing previous 8 years of American politics. He is smart enough to realize that there are important things to be learned from the successful socail welfare states overseas, and while the globalization, size, and diversity of the U.S may not be conducive to a social welfare model, aspects of this NEED to be embraced.

It is almost as if the distrust of government and taxation that spurned our initial revolution and independence from Great Britian is still influential in our collective consciousness, that we are afraid to part with our money in any form we don't understand. I think that fundamentally, this starts with education at a grassroots level, especially of the poor and working class, as these people in particular feel disconnected from state-subsidized services. Instead, they see the corporate greed and rampant spending of the government at a big level, not their local libraries, roads, schools, et cetera. As simple as it sounds, I really think people in the U.S don't understand how pulblic services are funded, and somehow feel they are entitled to these services without taxation. The fact is, in 21st century America, unrestricted capitalism is not only a bad idea, but extremely dangerous to our security as well.

On an immediate level, our infrastructure is imperiled, and the stimulus package has yet to accomodate the type of improvements we need so that bridges don't fall into trhe Mississippi and children in public housing aren't eating lead paint. Our public transportation is 3rd world comapared to Europe or even China, where 42 new high speed Rail lines are being constructed, a massive relief on the collective carbon footprint of the country. The problem is that the current focus on defecit reduction leaves no room for infrastructure spending, which in many parts of the country, is of equal importance to job security and healthcare. I will say that Mr. Rove made an excellent point in noting the current hypocrisy and inefficieny of much of the environmental movement, which, instead of recognizing large-scale solutions we already have in our technological aresenal, choses to focus on inefficient, "feel good" measures. We need to recognize the value of what we have; the fading nuclear industry needs to be revived, the massive dams of the Western U.S rebuilt and made more efficient, and large areas of the southwest covered in solar panels and passive solar energy generators. The bottom line is we are not willing to collectively lower our standard of living to the point where we make significant environmental strides with current technology, and our government research at the moment looks like underfunded amatuer hour compared to the rest of the world. Yes, I'm angry, yes, I'm belligerent, but I'm also cofident change is coming!!