NEXT KCDW MEETING – MAY 25TH We are returning to the Red Barn at Country Meadows for our May meeting. See map below. Our speakers will be Senators Phil Rockefeller (23rd LD) and Derek Kilmer (26th LD). It will be interesting to get their perspective on the results of this very difficult legislative session. In order to ensure we have the sufficient food ordered, we need you to RSVP to Jo Fox Burr if you are coming (foxburr@comcast.net/360-613-4042).

WHO WAS USING WHO?
by Jo Fox Burr

On May 3rd, two days after Bin Laden’s death, Rachel Maddow’s opening commentary focused on what Bin Laden’s real objectives were for 9/11. She noted that in his Al Jazeera interview a month after 9/11, Bin Laden seemed most pleased about the negative impact the attack had on our economy. Claiming his participation in bankrupting the Soviet Union, he now wanted to bankrupt us. This was not the threat feared by most people – but perhaps it should have been. Look at where we are now. While we have suffered no other major terrorist attacks within our borders, our economy has taken a very serious tumble. Is it Bin Laden’s fault? Well obviously not totally, but perhaps he set up a stage which allowed our leaders, who had their own agenda, to lead us off a dangerous financial cliff as if we were lemmings.

In the Al Jazeera interview, Bin Laden estimated that 9/11 cost us more than $1 trillion. That was before Bush used 9/11 to start two very costly wars. Some estimate the Iraq War alone will ultimately cost more than $3 trillion. Afghanistan – well who knows? In his column in the Washington Post on May 2nd, Ezra Klein estimated the cost of building up homeland security was another trillion. He also noted the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates after 9/11 to fend off the chance of a fear induced recession and that these interest rates were kept low to offset increased oil prices resulting from the Iraq War. Klein suggests that this monetary policy contributed to the credit bubble that crashed our economy in 2007 and 2008.

How did we let this happen? In his book “Moral Politics,” George Lakoff claims we all have a metaphor of our nation as a family. The problem is the liberal and conservative metaphors differ significantly. Conservatives feel that governments should emulate a strict father family structure. Liberals prefer a nurturing family structure. Of course, these are the extreme views and most people fall someplace in the middle, supporting elements of both structures. As the winds blow, support of specific elements change.

In the strict father structure, one of the father’s roles is to protect the family from evil. When evil hit on 9/11, Bush was thrust into this father role. Most of the nation was living in such fear, that no matter how badly he bungled his job, they could not allow themselves to believe he was not up to being the leader/father figure they needed to protect them – at least for a while. Because of their need, I think they allowed Bush to take liberties they would never have permitted in other times. They allowed him to make significant tax cuts for the wealthy during a time of war which resulted in larger deficits. The lack of sufficient regulatory oversight of the banking industry went virtually unnoticed. The Enron debacle which had clear ties to the Bush Administration did very little to damage Bush. The fact that he seemed to have no power or will to curb rising gas prices brought on by his rich oil friends didn’t seem to hurt him much. Most people feared Bin Laden was out there plotting another attack and whatever a strong father figure president did was OK.

On the surface, it might seem that Bush and his cohorts used Bin Laden to achieve their agenda. However, given the damage this agenda did to our economy, it seems to me Bush played right into Bin Laden’s hand. Was Bin Laden aware of this? Well, think about the long videotaped statement he released right before the Bush/Kerry election in 2004. It troubles me to give such a deranged man too much credit. However, I cannot help but wonder if Bin Laden actually understood that, contrary to the conservative claims of being better financial managers, liberal policies actually create a stronger and healthier economy and were therefore more threatening to his objectives?

The irony of all of this is that it wasn’t the strict father structure, with the backing of the military-industrial complex and its enhanced interrogation techniques, which protected us from evil. 9/11 did, after all, happen on Bush’s watch. And in the end, it was not this structure that took Bin Laden out. One can only hope that the winds are changing back again to a gentler course and that the nation is beginning to wake up to the fact that a more nurturing government structure provides more real protection for both our security and our economic well-being.

"I think the [enhanced] interrogations were in violation of the Geneva Conventions and the convention against torture that we ratified under President Reagan. I think these interrogations, once publicized, helped al Qaeda recruit. I got that from an al Qaeda operative in a prison camp in Iraq... I think that the ability of us to work with our allies was harmed. And I believe that information, according to the FBI and others, could have been gained through other [means]." – Senator John McCain