Quote of the Week: on Politics
“…Republicans lead in the wrong direction and Democrats are unable to lead in any direction at all.”
- Lincoln Chafee, “Goodbye to All That,” NYTimes, February 20, 2010
Hope for the center?
I’ve shared before how technology, media and politics can be (and often are) hijacked by the passionate extremes. In a recent article, Tyler Cowen argues that the “median voter theorem” posits that politicians can’t ultimately stray too far from the mainstream where citizens live.
Volcker’s Prescription
We’d do well to listen to former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker on the structural reforms the U.S. economy and financial sector need. I only hope politicians will rise above special interests and do what the nation needs to build a solid future.
It IS about Regime Change
Afshin Ellian wrote an excellent piece in the Wall Street Journal. He concludes it with:
The emergence of a democratic Iran is therefore not only a moral imperative but should be the foreign policy priority of every cold-hearted realist as well as multicultural engager. That’s why it is so incomprehensible that the Obama Administration still prefers dialogue with the apocalyptic ayatollahs over uncompromising support for the people crying out for freedom.
If the protesters shake off the yoke of theocracy and savagery, their success could herald the failure of political Islam way beyond Iran. At this turning point in history the West has no logical alternative but to unequivocally support the Green Revolution. The fate of this movement far outweighs the useless nuclear talks that will only buy the regime time and undeserved international legitimacy. The demonstrators in Iran on Dec. 7 rightfully exclaimed: "Obama, are you with them [the regime] or with us?" History will not judge him lightly if he chooses the wrong side.
For years I have wondered how so many diplomats (including many who are esteemed friends that I admire) delude themselves into believing they can actually get the Iranian regime to drop their quest for nuclear weapons. Never mind that the regime has invested its entire reputation into asserting that the nuclear option is its G’d-given right. And never mind that their entire geo-strategic existence relies on nuclear hegemony, not to mention the scary messianic imperatives they seem to want to accelerate with nuclear holocaust, as Ahmadinejad himself explicitly avowed. If history teaches us anything is that we should take people in power at their word when they proclaim threatening visions in the public fora.
Several years ago, pundits dismissed "regime change" as naive and advocated nuclear containment with Iran instead. I remember thinking they all had it upside down. Nuclear containment is unlikely with the present regime. Admittedly it may also be difficult with a future Iranian leadership. But at least we won’t have apocalyptic messianics holding on to the red button. Now that a viable grassroots opposition has risen in Iran demanding freedom and democracy, it will be devastating if they are not given all forms of global support, moral AND otherwise.
Local Data Mining Portends Tectonic Shifts in Global Governance
This fascinating article doesn’t directly address global governance. But the increasing uses of information and technology at the municipal level portend positively for models for global governance for the 21st century. And at all levels, this trend hints at the sweeping changes that will come in how we leverage data.
Quote of the Week: What her Dad taught Angela Merkel
My father taught me a very important lesson when I was a girl growing up in East Germany. He said, “Always be more than you appear and never appear to be more than you are.”
-as told to Bono (U2) and captured by him in a New York Times opinion piece.
The truth behind “Death Panels”
My wife is a Doctor and she often shares stories about how the medical “system” leads to unsavory paths, often including terminally-ill elderly & infirm patients who are dragged through the indecency of two extra weeks of herculean efforts to keep them alive when it is pretty clear they are victims of technology and bureaucracy gone awry. They would have much rather died a dignified death than be dragged through it. But their families would of course want to know they did everything in their power for them.
I have also heard that the costs of health care in the last two weeks of one’s life tend to account for between 50% and 75% of one’s lifetime expenses. This data point may exaggerate the problem because obviously before you pass on it makes sense that a lot will be invested in to saving you. But it does point to the challenge we need to confront in modern society: just because technology now exists that could “prolong” our lives does not follow that every instance we should deploy every available technology.
This is why it struck me that the campaign to scare people with the government’s “death panels” was a red herring – a silly distraction from a serious issue that our society needs to confront.
US Congressman Earl Blumenauer recently wrote the inside account of the “Death Panel” miscommunication campaign here. It is recommended reading not just to health care legislation aficionados, but to all who need to know about the sobering way in which our legislative system works.
The Montazeri Principle
Interesting article about a pious ayatollah who challenges the “Islamic” claim of the Iranian regime.
Extremist factions snuff out moderation in Lebanese campuses
As this article illustrates, looks like OneVoice could be a positive and missing ingredient in Lebanese soil.
Obama, Carter, Truman
Interesting and provocative article from Hoover fellow - Victor Davis Hanson - re Obama foreign policy as lacking in toughness from real politik.
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