Little Neros

--We're in the Money,
Gold Diggers of 1933

The sun is shining, come on get happy
The Lord is waiting to take your hand
Shout Hallelujah, come on get happy
We're going to the Promised Land
--Get Happy, Arlen/Koehler

A man's judgment is never any better
than his information
--Lyndon B. Johnson,
advice from his father
________________

The question that strikes me after reading a book like "The Untold Story of Douglas MacArthur" (Frazier Hunt, 1954) is, how did the U.S. become such a timid nation that a small terror group like al-Qaeda could cause such paroxysms of fear?

The U.S. has faced actual threats head on to a bloody victory. The threat posed by al-Qaeda is a pinprick compared to what was faced in WW I and II against Germans and Japanese, and the looming threat of worldwide Communism. The Soviet Army was armed with nukes down to the operational maneuver group level. If al-Qaeda's threat is otherwise, we would like to see the national security estimate. (The next piece will address that issue.)

The nation faced those past threats and prospered, where now we quiver in our Cambodian-made shorts. What gives?

The U.S. must get a grip on what is real and what is fantasy. We call programs like Survivor "reality shows," yet they are naught but elaborate distractions. Shows like "24" and "The Unit" pander to the idea that al-Qaeda can bring the U.S. down. Another fantasy is that the U.S. can change the values of the Arab world.

The reality is that the country is crumbling from the inside, and we are mostly complicit little Neros hoping for the next distraction, throttling headlong into the national disasters our leaders cook up for us. Not too smart.

Busby Berkeley has left the building.