Island Breath: Kunstler on Bush 2007 SOTU

by James Kunstler 24 January 2007 in www.kunstler.com

It was a speech that any county planning board chairman might have made, which is to say a lame defense of the status quo. Missing is the comprehension of a crisis that is gathering like a hurricane unseen from the shore but visible to anyone with rudimentary radar. This president will use every last corn kernel and every last wood chip to keep 260 million cars and trucks running. Better prepare to cut down on the Cheez Doodles, America. He wants to reduce gasoline usage by 20 percent over the next ten years.

Guess what: circumstances will probably do that for us involuntarily, because the sheer amount of petroleum available to the US is certain to decline substantially by then, whether we like it or not. Real leadership would recognize this and propose making other arrangements, like getting the trains running again or ending incentives for suburban sprawl. A big tax deduction on health insurance would work for me, but what about the millions struggling to get by on WalMart global-labor-arbitrage wages with no health insurance benefits? They're just fucked.

The obvious flaw in the new Iraq initiative: it's worse than "Vietnamization." South Vietnam at least had a legitimate army and real police. Iraq's army and police are shams, completely corrupted by Shia militia and other sectarian rogue forces, with no chance of imposing order on that fictive nation. Just looking at the many non-entities in the Bush cabinet sitting in the front row prompted me to realize what a sclerotic government ours has become.

When was the last time the Secretary of Health and Human Services uttered a coherent public statement? Does anyone even know the names of the Secretaries of Labor or Transportation? And why don't they have anything to say about the great issues of our day? Who, in the mainstream press, is even asking them questions?

for additional future coverage:
Island Breath: Kunstler's Other Arrangements
Island Breath: Kunstler 2007 predictions

Island Breath: Kauai 2007 to 2050
Island Breath: Kauai 2050 meeting
Island Breath: Hawaii 2050 bkgrnd
Island Breath: Hawaii 2050 kickoff
Island Breath: The Great Turning
The Gobbler: Green Chautauqua