this is a re-post form another now closed board.
While contemplating our current problems as a country, I sometimes
reflect on the Might Have Beens, where we as a nation took the wrong
turns which brought us here.
One of the regrets I have for our nation is that McCain did not win the Republican primaries in 2000.
McCain
won the New Hampshire primary in a landslide, and nearly upended the
coronation of Bush II. Bush's adoption of a negative smear campaign was
the only thing that saved him in South Carolina.
https://www.azcentral.com/s...
https://www.thenation.com/a...
I
consider this a tragedy for the country. Bush, while a well-meaning
man, was a real lightweight both mentally and in his character, and was
dominated by his political advisor Karl Rove, and VP Cheney for the
first 6 years of his presidency. McCain had character in spades, and
rejected the divisiveness that Rove and Cheney urged on Bush II.
Overall, I thought McCain would have been a far better president. But
there were specific disasters, that are much less of a judgement call
than this, which Bush's win over McCain lead to.
One was 9-11. I doubt that a more security focussed Prez could have prevented 9-11, but there is a chance.
Of more certainty, the Bush presidency produced four disasters for this country, which McCain would have avoided:
* Iraq War
* torture and abandonment of due process
* Extreme disconnect between Military/Security agencies, and the populace
* Massive budget deficits
As
a military strategist, I am fairly confident that McCain would not have
undertaken a 2nd discretionary war (Iraq), when the first and necessary
war (Al Qaida) had not yet been won.
McCain led the effort to overturn the torture program of the Bush admin, so he would not have
supported the torture, renditions, incommunicado detentions, etc that Bush adopted from the world's dictatorships.
McCain would not have called upon Americans to go out shopping, when their service members
were
at war. Our service people were always stunned when they rotated home,
and it was like there was no war. This should have started with 9-11.
Rather than a paternalistic "I will do everything possible to never let
this happen again" (IE, torture, violate civil rights, etc), McCain
would have honored the dead as HEROES, not VICTIMS! A nation at war,
fighting for the Enlightenment values of Human Rights, Religious
Tolerance, and Democracy would have been far more resistant to the
anti-military/security conspiracy theories of the Truthers, and of the
anti-muslim religious bigotry.
As the leading deficit hawk in congress, McCain would not have already emptied our bank account before the Great Recession hit.
Bush
gets the blame for the Great Recession, unjustifiably. This was
actually a Bush strength, and the best thing he did in his presidency.
He created the bank rescue fund, and prevented a second Great
Depression. McCain may have mismanaged this recession, and turned it
into a depression -- but I don't have reason to think that he would have
been less competent than Bush, so this is not a reasonable expectation
from a McCain win.
So, the four greatest disasters of the Bush
presidency would have been avoided, with no obvious downsides, if the
right man had carried the day.
Instead, the pursuit of negative politics, and smearing one's opponents, was pretty much enshrined as the way to win elections!
So
-- was this one of the major national missteps on the way to our
current climate of partisan hostility and non-communication? Or am I
totally misjudging what happened in 2000 and its consequences?
Pragmatic politics focused on the public interest for those uncomfortable with America's two-party system and its way of doing politics. Considering the interface of politics with psychology, cognitive science, social behavior, morality and history.
Etiquette
DP Etiquette
First rule: Don't be a jackass.
Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.
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