Tragedy of the Commons

Volume II, Issue # 46- November 18-24, 2011

International Tribune

Simple common sense seems to be sadly missing in the GOP politics nowadays.  I have never witnessed a string of ‘oops’ during a presidential campaign.  The entire declared Republican contenders make Dan Quayle look like a genius.  The GOP’s search for the next man to unseat Obama from the White House has never been this entertaining.  From Santorum to Bachman, Perry to Cain, the GOP declared presidential candidates are turning out to be clowns.  The circus has, indeed, arrived in town.   

Clowns are attention getters and that is why they appear comical, theatrics, and at times, loud- uttering only but non-sense when they have a chance to speak.  They will prance around on stage to entertain you as much as they can to make the audience laugh.  Sadly, this is not a far reality in the 2012 race for the GOP presidential nomination. Everyone seems to be clowning around.  You Tube has had record-breaking hits in its site from the Rick Perry and Herman Cain ‘oops’ videos.  One can see this to be funny.  However, in reality, it is frightening to think that the Republican line-up is supposed to be the crème de la crème of the Grand Old Party.  And yet the Republican Party believes that it is the right party to better lead America today. 

GOP 2012 political caricature illustration by Donkey Hotey 
from www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey.

When one applies for the position of Commander-in- Chief of the most powerful nation on earth, automatically the job requires not only money and charisma but a stratospheric brain that can vigorously compete in the world stage.  Charisma maybe important but it can really just take one to a certain distance. Tons of money can provide for the campaign trails.  However, intelligence simply cannot be replaced by good looks or charm.  The presidential election is not a Miss Universe pageant.  Rick Perry may be the charmer of all the GOP candidates but his lack of knowledge of his own planned domestic policies was downright embarrassing if not alarming.   During a recent debate, Perry announced that once he becomes the President, he will immediately abolished three government agencies:  “I would do away with Commerce, Education, and what is the third one?”  A moment of very awkward silence follows.  “Oops, I can’t remember the third one,” blundered Perry.  If this does not convince anyone to end his effort, I never will discern the folly of wasting the hard-earned money of Mr. Perry's financial contributors. Perhaps this is a very valid reason why the Department of Education, in the final analysis, must not be abolished.  Some people, indeed, need further education.  

A couple of days later, another embarrassing video came out on another candidate.  While it seems like he was surviving the sexual harassments charges filed against him not by one woman but by several, what could very well be the real killer of his presidential dream is his obvious lack of knowledge in one of the most burning issues in foreign policy today – and not the pending cases against him.  It was very painful to watch Herman Cain being interviewed on the subject of Libya by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  In the video Cain was asked if he agreed with Obama's support for the rebels against Muammar Gaddafi. Cain replied: "I do not agree with the way he handled it, for the following reason." After hesitation and shifting on his chair, he said: "Uh, nope, that's, that's a different one… see, I got to go back, see. Got all this stuff twirling around in my head?" And then Cain even tried to fish out for details from the interviewer.  It was obvious that the businessman from Georgia had no clue with what is being asked of him.  Or he simply just does not have the basic knowledge of international events and what goes on beyond the confines of his beloved native Atlanta.  I wonder how many stamps he has in his passport.  

Every GOP contender seems to start their argument that they will do a much better job than President Obama.  And they parade around shaking every average Joe’s hands in their campaign trails that they are just like anyone of them.  They seem to show how they feel their grief and that they are willing to work for the common good.   And that these candidates are here to help solve their fellow Americans' woes.  The main problem is that they really have not presented any substantial plan or strategy that can bail out this nation and its citizens from the economic pains that have beset them.  Not many would disagree that America’s recession today are brought on by the last Republican president in the White House and the administrations questionable relations with certain big businesses.  How can one believe that the average American is their main priority?  It only appears this way during the campaign circus.  This is the tragedy of pretending to be the commons. 

Remembering Armistice

Volume 2, Issue Number 45- November 11-17, 2011

International Tribune

Almost a century ago, during the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in Compiègne, France in 1918, the Allies of World War I and Germany signed a treaty to end the war to end all wars.  Fifteen years down the road, with great misfortune, the spirit of the Armistice Day treaty did not last very long in the European continent.  The Second World War took place, entangling more nations to the worst global conflict this planet had ever staged.  Have we truly learned from this immense catastrophe?  

Europe had staged some of the most lethal and engineered warfare since the dawn of time.  Whether it is in the name of religion or nationalism, the European continent has been embroiled in unending contentions that test the limits of mankind and the hostilities they have, indeed, imposed on one another. With billions of lives lost over time and unresolved ancient hatreds still looming in the relations of some, it is almost inexplicable how this continent has survived and remains an economic giant.  

There is no other place in the world where you can find a never ending list of conflicts since the first Trojan Wars in 1194 BC.  Any war historian can get lost remembering them all.  First came the religious wars starting with the Crusades (11^th-13^th century), the Reformation that started in Germany (1520-1540), the Eighty Years War (1568-1648), the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1639-1651), and etc… just to name a few.   Second, wars were fought for the glory of conquest, commencing with the Trojan Wars (1194 BC- 1184), War of the Roses, (1455-1487), French Revolutionary War (1792-1802), the two greatest world wars (1915 &1939).  And finally came the dark side of nationalistic fervor, beginning with the Post-Communist ethnic genocides that took place in the former Yugoslav Republics and the states of the Former Soviet Union, war has been part of life in this continent.

The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes once said, “The natural condition of man is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.”  And it gets even worse, apart from the order of society, Hobbes also plainly stated that every individual’s “life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Dark and dreary, Hobbes’s gloomy philosophy could have some practicality to our everyday lives today.  This was written four centuries ago and yet is still applicable in some society.  Whether you are in a battle field, or not, men’s natural instinct is to outdo one another for one’s self-preservation.  

Image from the New York Times

Today, the battle goes on in the European continent, but not necessarily with guns, artilleries, and tanks.  Contemporary hostilities are now in the corporate board room, in cyber space, and now in the European Parliament.  Disintegration of the European Union is hanging on a thin thread line that can once again, bring down the entire world- at least, economically.  The streets of Athens are in flames.  Greece is completely bankrupt and might soon leave the EU.  Italy is next to default.  France is worried to lose its standard credit rating.  And Spain is fighting for its survival with one of the worse unemployment rate among all the industrialized countries.  I wonder what is next.

The eleventh year of the twenty first century is about to end.  Luckily, wars are no longer fought in a global scale.  I just hope the genius Einstein can sometimes be wrong.  He once predicted, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Here is to remembering Armistice Day, and let the truce permanently shape relations among nations in the European continent and beyond.