Nothing that adherence to proven principles wouldn’t solve
The mixed bag that is our current juncture is very mixed indeed. Just as Iraq is looking like a stable, unified country ready to take its place as a player in its region and in the struggle against jihadism, the danger from its neighbor to the east, Iran, looks like it’s reaching critical mass. Domestically, productivity and employment remain high, while bank failures blemish the landscape and inflation, a negligible factor for years, has come roaring back.
America is screaming for clarity and leadership. Or maybe the problem is that it’s not screaming for clarity and leadership,at least en masse in sufficient numbers. There is nothing plaguing us that adherence to the time-honored principles that have paved our way out of every similar past situation wouldn’t cure.
You do see little glimpses of it here and there. Thank God W finally said that we need to drill for oil. If the man who hopes to succeed him as a GOP president can find a graceful way to put his previous pristine-ANWR statements behind him (I guess I am calling for McCain to flip-flop, which isn’t per se a bad thing, if your previous position was stupid) and point out the stark difference between the corporation-bashing of the Freedom-Haters and the overwhelming obvious good sense of turning loose oil companies anywhere it seems likely that there’s oil, he and the congressional candidates of his pary may have a chance.
There are hopeful signs that the public is likewise beginning to see that the core of the banking and mortgage mess is likewise fairly simple: easy credit and shaky responsibility met head-on and shareholders, depositors and taxpayers were left holding the bag. A little of that is sufficient to make the vast majority of timely bill-payers say, “Now hold on, here. Why am I taking a whuppin’ for someone else’s failure to live up to his obligations?”
What I do not understand is this sudden overture the W administration is making to Iran. Sending Under-Secretary of State William Burns to meet with his theocratic counterpart? How does that jibe with the recent stories about W giving Israel an “amber light” to take care of business regarding a nuke program? It may be that there is some highly sensitive factor at play here, some consideration that must be kept tightly under wraps for the time being, but I feel that W owes the American people at least some kind of statement along the lines of “I know this looks like an abrupt turnabout, but if it leads to the favorable changes we anticipate, I will explain it thoroughly in due course.”
Yes, it’s a complicated world. That’s all the more reason to have a consistent set of bedrock principles that guide us as we encounter all manner of wacky twists and turns and some real threats. In a sense, it’s like having a chart in front of you when you’re playing music. If you get lost in the tune, you can’t blame the piece of paper on the stand.
