I saw this title in the newspaper yesterday and it stood out like Howard Dean at a Palin family BBQ. Times are difficult for many people, all over, in all walks of life. The world seems to be changing and we, the generation that seems fit to survive anything, is struggling to make sense of how everything we took for granted is now being nudged from us.

Someone pointed out to me that they liked my blogs when I would touch on politics with a bit of humor. I haven’t the faintest idea sometimes what to suggest, without offending some people or without looking like a fool. I do pay attention to history, which was my favorite subject in school. I think the key to our problem (and by “our”, I mean USA/ UK/ EU) is to look to the past and see if we can nail down exactly what brought down civilizations.

In the early 80’s I think President Reagan and his government made the USSR increase their defense to try to match ours and thus, increase the arms race. That they (USSR) neglected their own infrastructure, people and common sense to prove their might, goes to show you how manly governments can be and how easily they lose their way. Eventually, their system broke down and they had no choice BUT to change. They had nowhere to go but up.

Of course America suffered too, just not as much as the Soviets. People site Reagan as a good president, yet all I remember are taxes that shifted away from education, mental hospitals, the arts and other things that western societies expect for their tax revenue. Instead, we saw homeless people spring up everywhere when Veteran and Mental facilities didn’t have the funds anymore. In 1983 there was high unemployment (with numbers not too far off from the present) and that created the perfect storm for Crack to makes its way into the american dream.

But to the government (circa 1980-88), all these things were part of what we had to endure to destroy our enemy. And that we did. The USSR became RUSSIA again. We didn’t bomb them back to the stone ages; we didn’t need to. WE SPENT THEM back to the stone ages. So, as you can imagine I am not a fan of Mr. Reagan and I think the media and the politico fascination with him (both from the right and the left), to me, border on perverted. But that’s only my opinion.

But, my point is that al Queda aren’t stupid. And they probably know more about OUR history than many of us do, which makes me wonder if they had this all planned out? Imagine a different senario. Imagine John McCain in the year 2000 beats Bush in the primaries. Then, in November 2000 either McCain or Gore becomes president. Now imagine 9/11 happening again. I firmly believe neither of these men would have taken the reckless path that Bush took. And I bet you al Queda knew that and was pulling for a Cowboy that, no matter what the intel said, would head straight for Saddam Huisein. And that they would engage the USA in an unpopular war that a head strong, war-hungry administration would have no problems spending 12 Billion a month (for 6 years!) on. Hey, its not like we need the money, right?

But we chose that path (twice! Remember, he was re-elected) and so now we have to re-think how we do things. We’ve been screwed over by the politicians, the banks, our bosses, our doctors. So, if we want it people, we have to do it ourselves. Of course no one knows exactly what that “it” entails. But we made it out of the Reagan era (and over the Bush Sr. Speed bump) and we saw an exciting age of development after that. We need leaders that encourage the bosses of the world to stop trying to protect their power and instead, share their knowledge and build from the bottom up.

Think LONG TERM and we’ll make it out of this economic set back. We all need to collectively ‘turn the heat’ on rogue nations so that the citizens see for themselves how useless war hungry governments are and return America’s prestige & reputation. The greatest nation much also be the most responsible. “Do as I say, not as I do” aint gonna cut it anymore. Not if we are to protect that American Dream.

Mike Randle