"Look" just hear me out. " "Nothing would ever get done
if all possible objections had first to be overcome.' Samuel Johnson said that!"
"Still listening," he telepathed.
"Okay. " I'm giving you paradigms here. Just hear me out. " What's more bloated than
the US military budget? We spend half of
all our money on our military--a zillion bucks--more than the next 50 countries
put together--something like that--and what do we get? We're creating more enemies all the
time--meaning we need to spend even more on the military. It's a vicious cycle."
Woof pawed the ground, signifying he understood, but
would like me to put things together.
"So" we cut our military budget in half, and we bring
home half of our armed forces! That's a
lot of people and a lot of equipment that we're not spending exorbitant fees
overseas to support. We're gonna save
money just by having our troops at home!
Then, we're gonna employ our armed forces in repairing our
infrastructure--which has been neglected for decades! While we're repairing, we're training all
these troops to for useful work. We're
gonna shore up our coasts, preparing for the next Hurricane Sandy. We're gonna fix our roads and bridges, and
we're gonna build a high speed rail system to rival the best in Japan or France
or China! We're gonna improve public
transportation in all of our cities so our people don't have to waste time and
energy in the daily commute--and we'll cut down on pollution as well. We'll rebuild our communities!"
"But" won't the other countries take advantage of
America's retreat from the world?" Woof wondered.
"That's right out of "The Godfather," number 1," I tell
him. "Remember when Robert Duvall tells
the Godfather if their family doesn't get into illegal drug-dealing, the other
families will, and with the extra money they're making they'll come after don
Corleone's family?"
"That's right," says Woof, furrowing his forehead. "It's a pretty sick rationale for how to run
a country, isn't it?"
"Exactly! But
that's what we've been doing forever--us and all the other goddamn empires. So" we're gonna show these other guys how
it's in their best interests to help us change our stars and stripes. We're gonna be straight with them. If we cut half our forces, we will expect
them to do the same! We'll work it all
out in treaties. And we'll use our
surveillance systems to make sure everyone follows the rules."
Woof wags his tail, getting a bit excited. "You could sweeten the pot," he says. "You could let those other countries invest
in America's reconstruction! They'll
profit from reducing their own military forces, and they'll profit from America
turning its spears into pruning hooks!"
"Thank you, Isaiah!"
"Touche!"
I pet Woof and give him a hug. "How else might we apply this way of
thinking?" he wonders. Then, he barks
excitedly. "Social Security!" he
exclaims. "That 18th camel is
in front of our wet noses!"
Now I'm confused.
"How do you mean?"
"Well" people giving something up" only to have it come
back in a better way. Like the wise man
in the story. He gives up his camel
temporarily, but it comes back, and he's earned the good will of the rich man's
sons."
"Yeah?"
