How about Bush & Co.'s use of 9/11 and the contrived, fraudulent case involving Saddam Hussein and his supposed cache of weapons of mass destruction? I think we can safely say that this ludicrous event in American history would never have happened; that is, it would not even have been considered by any other sensible-thinking president who occupied the White House at that time. Just think; a few hundred thousand innocent civilians would not have needlessly died, 4,481 U.S. troops would not have died and 32,195 would not have been grievously wounded. Up to $1 trillion of taxpayer dollars would not have been wasted on an illegal, immoral war.
Guantanamo would not have been used for prisoners and torture/water boarding crimes would never have been committed. There would have been no renditions in which suspected terrorists or criminals were transported to other nations for torturing.
Yes, we need to call this period in America's history the wasted decade; a time when we needed to move into the new century with a sense of purpose and direction. So many problems to be solved and so many opportunities for meaningful accomplishments for this nation and society that were not addressed.
What might a different president with a different mindset and agenda have done to take America in a completely different direction? Obviously, the country would not have been saddled with massive costs of war and out of control national deficits. So here are the areas that should have been addressed and properly funded.
Our system of education was in need of a complete overhaul with a renewed emphasis on math and science, both of which fuel the nation's creativity and innovation engine and lead to greater growth and prosperity. This government had completely forgotten that education of its citizens should be at the top of the list of priorities and, as a result, America saw a precipitous drop in world academic rankings. This condition should have been remedied, but it wasn't.
The beginning of the 21st century would have been the perfect time to develop a world class system of universal health care based on a single payer concept that would assure all Americans with equal health protection at reasonable costs. It would have greatly diminished the role of the medical insurance industry and its emphasis on profits above service to customers. It didn't happen.
Our rapidly deteriorating infrastructure, once the best in the world, needed repair and rebuilding because of its critical importance to the country's commerce but this government was not willing to appropriate the needed funds. This was the time to develop high speed rail between cities, reduce interstate traffic and substantially improve urban transit systems. The need still exists today.
America needed to create new industries to reinvigorate its declining manufacturing sector and generate millions of new, badly needed jobs for unemployed workers. And what better way to do it than through the development of new sources of energy, from solar panels and wind power. Development of alternate fuels and electric cars was crucial in reducing our dependence on imports of foreign oil. A great opportunity was missed.
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