don’t panic

I read an article on CNN today about how former president Jimmy Carter is blasting George Bush, calling his administration the, “worst in history”.

And of course, the White House responds by saying that Carter is “irrelevant”.

Irrelevant?  What?  He’s a former president.  Of course he’s irrelevant.  But that hardly makes him wrong.  He’s actually reflecting the views of a huge majority of the global population right now, and even if he were a raving lunatic, what he’s saying is still completely relevant.

George Bush may very well go down in history as the single most damaging human being on the planet for all time.  Considering how much he has shafted the Earth with his environmental policies, he’s may already hold the title.  He will almost certainly be known as the one man who could have made a difference when it might have helped, but didn’t.  Now, with Iraq, he might also be known for starting the most pointless war in history, and probably the most costly in sheer dollar bang-for-your-buck.  What have we gotten out of the war in Iraq?…  Well, Saddam is dead, and… um… well… did I mention that Saddam is dead? 

Are we ANY safer today?  Nope.  Not even in the most secure area our billions could provide in Iraq.  If anything, we managed to perfectly polarize how the rest of the world looks at us.  I weep to consider what our country (or even the world) might look like today had we instead taken that money and put it toward internal issues, or technology.  Imagine the education reforms would could have accomplished with an extra 100 billion or so?  Talk about “no child left behind…”  Or how about an extra 100 billion for research into alternative fuels or engine efficiency? 

Instead, we now live in a world that is posed on the brink of multiple global disasters.  Tensions across the various religions and ethnic divides has never in history been worse than today.  One small act, in the right place is all it would take to bring down the whole thing.  Imagine the results of a nuke in Bagdad.  They wouldn’t even have to get it in the city, just near it.  And if we don’t finish ourselves off, mother nature will certainly do the job by the time my daughter is ready to retire.  That’s the blink of eye in terms of global history.

But don’t panic.  Everything is fine… because Carter is irrelevant.