Changing captains on a sinking ship

The Titanic has hit the iceberg. It's taking on water fast. Changing the captain won't alter those facts.

That's how I feel about the upcoming election. The politicians are already sniffing around New Hampshire, visions of Primary victories dance in their heads. I've never been this uninterested.

The ship of state has hit the iceberg and is taking on water fast. We are going down. Changing to a new captain isn't going to fix the problem. What we need is a someone to give the command to man the lifeboats. That's about the only useful thing a politician could say right now.

There's going to be a lot of people thrashing around in the water, wondering what happened. Just like a big cruise ship, it takes a long time to change directions on the ship of state. The brakes weren't put on years ago, and it's too late now.

It was too late at the last election. President Bush and President Obama are about as different as they could be, but their policies are actually quite similar. All a President can do right now is rearrange the deck chairs. The bankers, corporations, special interests, and the military industrial complex, these are the guys who really steer the ship. They said full speed ahead, and crashed us. Their repose to taking on water is to give it more power and throttle up.

That's how we ended up in three simultaneous wars, the financial mess, the environmental degradation, social upheaval, and who knows what else? The complete collapse of modern industrial society?

Some of the officers and crew on this ship knew exactly where we were heading. They have well appointed life rafts. They've got an exit strategy. Their life rafts are ready to go.

Do you have a life raft? Have you prepared for the cold waters you are about to be tossed into? Are you going to be thrashing around, trying to piece together a raft from the wreckage around you?

-Sixbears