Education=National Security

Both Obama is in the business of keeping the Military Industrial Complex alive. To continue to harp on the need of adding troops to Afghanistan or the success of the surge only continues to glorify the Empire.

We are in crisis because our focus on "national security" is honed in on perceived external threats, silencing dissent at home and protecting the investors (who allegedly let some of that profit "trickle down"). The theory that by increasing spending on surveillance, bombs and tanks is going to keep us safe is baloney. To flog the surge as the salvation of Iraq-to call for "victory" and triumph over "defeat" is spit in the faces of We the People. There can be no victory when we are the aggressors-but there will be defeat when we have completely bankrupted ourselves in "defending" our freedom.

Our country suffered the same stupidity during the imperialist war of my parents' generation-Viet Nam. They too watched their soldiers return home scarred inside and out-to end up on the streets. They too had to debate over funding the Military at the expense of Education and Health Care. They too were told that this was war for our survival. The continuation of putting military defense above national defense must end-or else America ends.

It is no coincidence that countries with a system like that in Norway are the most stable. The investment in the people, as the highest priority, as the most precious natural resource ensures a secure and safe nation. When the people of a nation are brought up with the respect and dignity of which they are deserving, their conduct in the world reflects and continues that dignity and respect. By ensuring that their youth grow up with developed minds, with developed faculties and capabilities, then the people are more able to lead their nation.

If we want a secure America, then we have to start with our security in America-as citizens. By providing for the education of all our citizens, then we provide for our future. We provide ourselves with the doctors teachers and engineers vital to our sustainability. If we make the health and welfare of all Americans priority number one, then we make a commitment to the longevity of our Republic. A nation is only as strong as the weakest of its citizens-the crisis we face today will only become graver if we continue to allow our interests to be thrown under the bus in the name of "national security".

A nation of patriots only comes about when the nation is thriving, is filled with self-worth, with the knowledge that we sink or swim together. Our dedication to profit and ignorance is not something we asked for, but it is something we enable. We must, as Andrew Bacevich says, "look in the mirror". We must be strong enough-NOW- to look at where we have come as a people, what we have given up, what we have been duped into accepting as our priorities. If we cannot face that image in the mirror-then this is indeed the end.

See ya in the polls.