Using the legendary ship, the Titanic, as a metaphor is a time-honored practice so let's use it again as the setting for a movie now in the planning stages which will illustrate how current policies and actions by our government, together with rapidly deteriorating conditions in our society, are taking America on a course leading directly into a national disaster.
The Cast:
The USS Titanic: America
Captain Obama: President Barack Obama
Ship's Officers: Congress
Ship Owners: Corporate America/the Military-Industrial Complex
Ship's Passengers: The American People
The plot of our soon-to-released movie has its beginning on January 20, 2009 as Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States. As he takes the oath of office, the nation is in a state of turmoil. It is bogged down in two major military actions, Iraq and Afghanistan, both initiated by pre-emptive invasions ordered by the Bush/Cheney team of bloodthirsty war hawks. The nation is also in the midst of a severe economic crisis that has thrown America into a deep recession. Skyrocketing unemployment, a declining manufacturing base, a Wall Street financial collapse, home foreclosures and credit card defaults have thrown our society into a state of fear and confusion.
So, at that point in time, picture the people of America aboard the ship USS Titanic with Captain Barack Obama assuming command. The captain and the ship's officers are fully aware that our nation is in dire straits as our ship of state rapidly steams toward a darkening, uncertain future. The vast majority of Americans are, figuratively, sitting on the deck of the USS Titanic, not fully aware that the ship is heading directly into a looming disaster. But, they have this uneasy feeling and fear that something is not right with this voyage. And so, they look to their Captain Obama with the hope that he will see the imminent danger looming ahead and that he will steer the ship out of this extremely dangerous situation.
But what can the captain possibly do to turn the ship in a new direction and avoid imminent disaster? Well, he knows that the two wars are draining the lifeblood out of America and, by taking rational, logical steps to wind them down; he knows that he can save hundreds of billions of dollars to right our ship of state, the economy. But the ship owners, Corporate America and the vast Military-Industrial Complex, who are the direct beneficiaries of taxpayer dollars that are used to produce expensive weapons systems, put enormous pressure on our captain not to change course. He thinks long and hard but then passively complies with their demands; he decides to escalate the Afghan/Pakistan war by about 30,000 more troops. Our captain says, "Full speed ahead and stay the course."
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