More political thoughts

I am listening to Bush and it gots me thinking. When I was a Naval Officer, I managed right at 100 people and I was still a speck compared to the Captain of the ship. I had to depend on people that I had no direct control over to get the job done. The Captain had 6,000 or so people to depend on, some people he never even saw. Now, extrapolate that to the level of a Mayor, then a Governor, then a frickin President. Holy crap. If the people that worked for me, honestly/realistically, didn't want to support me, they could easily have made me fail, easily.

That is one of the conveniences that spoiled Americans have. There is a President that can be a figurehead to take the blame for everything that is wrong in their lives and in the country and the world. This Iraq war has been mismanaged in a lot of areas, but I don't think it's fair or very informed to just lay all the responsibility on one man. Like the Guantanamo situation. He was prolly completely unaware that it was even happening. For example, the Captain of my ship had no idea of what I was doing with my troops, unless something exceptionally bad or good happened. Does that mean he's a bad leader.

He's 'responsible' for everyone and everything on and around the ship. So, shouldn't he know what's going on in a small 3-man work center, buried in the belly of the ship, 10 floors down? It's silly to me to blame one man for the mistakes of thousands of others. The war idea was supported, but the mismanagement was/is not. I agree, but I don't think it can all be pinned on one man.

Furthermore, I believe that we have become Big Brother to the world and for damn good reason. When our country was started, we were escaping the oppression of a big, greedy, selfish country. Then, when our Navy was formed, we were helping the rest of the world to be free from the frickin criminals that the big, greedy, selfish country was too self-interested to do anything about, even though they were the only country in the world with a Navy adequate enough to face criminals like the Barbary pirates who kidnapped cruise ships of harmless civilians.

I am glad that we still do this for the world. Sitting back and talking about peace is nice but it's frickin selfish. We can sleep safely, without threat of someone busting down our door to take someone who speaks an opinion that is contrary to the current leader, who happens to be yer frickin brother. We can drive on maintained roads and drink frickin gourmet coffee and stop just about anydamnwhere to use the restroom on the way to a job that protects us from abuse and insures us in the event of harm.

Yes, there are other countries that have something that is better than ours. But, why is it that everyone's not moving to one of them. The money it would take to move there just isn't worth it, is it? And I'm not buying the, 'it's too expensive to go' idea. If someone wants a frickin SUV or a college education or a mortgage, they will find a way to get that down payment and make that monthly payment. Well, not lately, because credit's a bit too readily available, but that's a whole nutha story.

The changes/improvements in Iraq are undeniable. Usable roads, women having rights and businesses even, clean drinking water, development of a working government that will actually support it's people instead of raping them... So, I would rather have more countries enjoy the freedoms that we do than sit back and selfishly enjoy them while criticizing those who believe in the undeniable truth that we have a responsibility to better the world, because we are in a position to do so, but also because of simple self-interest. The world is not so big anymore. Besides helping other countries, we do have to concern ourselves with our freedoms being threatened by strongholds around the world.

Ok, I'm tired.

Listening to: Get Up, Get Out, by Godsmack.