Day 1078 Again

Day 1196 We Gave War a Chance

Thursday January 3, 2020 

310 Days until the 2020 election and 391 days until the Inauguration

It’s a new year, a new beginning, time to reassess the countdown (Somehow it got off.)

There are 1456 days between the election and 78 days beyond that to the inauguration.

( That’s from 11/8/2016 to 11/3/2020 to 1/20/2021 )

As of 1/1/2020 Trump has been in office 1075 days.

As of that date we have 308 days until the election and 386 days to the Inauguration.

Therefore, as of January 3, 2020 when I started writing this piece, the rejiggered count is:

Day 1078 January 3, 2020

305 Days until the 2020 election and 381 days to the Inauguration

And the countdown continues with the rejiggered modifications.

Where was I? Oh, yes. Two data points:

1) I was outside of Quantico, Virginia, which is a large military base, when I saw a bumper sticker that read: “GIVE WAR A CHANCE”.

2) I heard a piece on the radio that talked about the idea of treating people with drug dependencies as a heath problem rather than as a criminal problem.

These two ideas made me think about Reagan and his “War on Drugs”. 

I asked President Reagan, “How’s that going?” (Too bad he’s dead. Oh well.)

Then Iran and the killing of their general happened.

Brooks of Shields and Brooks on PBS this week pointed out the long term effects of war from a purely troop count level. He mentioned that we still have troops in Korea, Japan, and Germany. That’s from the Second World War and the Korean War. Also, Saudi Arabia and the middle east, and Afghanistan and Iraq. This doesn’t count the  trash left around – like bombs. The French are still finding ordinance from WWI. There are whole parts of France that are still off limits due to the bombs still in the ground from The Great War. Farmers regularly find bombs in their fields. They pick them up and lay them by the roadside for the bomb squads to come and get them. This is from World War I.

When I was in Angkor Wat there was a war museum that I visited in Siem Reap. It has lots of rusting artifacts. There were sheds with rifles and land mines on display. What surprised me was the number of different devices designed to maim when you stepped on them. Vietnam has lots of them still in place. Every year people get a limb blown off. Usually, it is children. The man you owns the museum held up a rifle and said, “Do you know what this is?” He held it with authority. Obviously, use to handling that particular weapon, “It’s an M1,” he said. He hoisted several rifles, told us their names and explained how they were used in the war in Vietnam. When we got to the land mines he explained that when it came to land mines, if one of your buddies stepped on one and got his leg blown off you couldn’t run over to help him. Rather, you had to take your Bowie knife, turn the blade upwards and run it along the ground, looking for a trip wire to another land mine. Oftentimes these devices were planted in such a way that those who came to help would be maimed as well. Nice. He then pulled up his pant leg to reveal his prosthetic limb.

So, how’s the war going? Or should I say, “How’s war? Have we given it enough of a chance?”

Maybe, there’s another way? I don’t see that we are winning the war on drugs, or the wars in the middle east, or the war in Afghanistan. Just sayin’

The woman who talked about treating drugs as a health problem pointed out that doing so reduced the amount of crime, improved the health of those depend on drugs, and put the opioids under control. She pointed to Portugal that has done this and there are statistics to show it’s working out quite well for that country.

Not only does it seem to be better for society, but it’s cheaper.

The same might be true for war. Would it be cheaper to buy all the heroin that Afghanistan can make rather than fighting to keep it from being sold illegally? We’ve been in that country for 18 years. What if we had spent our money on roads and education along with buying their dope and offering to buy other cash crops? Somehow, I’ve got to think that would be cheaper. 

Now the talk of war with Iran is raising its ugly head again. We’ve been at odds with that country for what? 60 years? How’s it going? Yes, the guy we took out was a bad man. Has that solved anything? 

We had a deal with that country, then we welshed on it. What do we have instead? Possible war and the distinct possibility that they will have a nuclear weapon sooner, rather than later. Great. Do you remember the 2016 Republican debates and all their tough talk about Iran? How Hillary and Obama had done such a bad deal? Blah blah blah. Let me remind everyone that the current administration has done squat in this regard. Where’s the bigger, badder, tougher deal? 

Meanwhile fires rage in Australia, Brazil, Africa – how are you doing on climate change? Oh that’s right, it doesn’t exist.

What about health care? It was John Boehner that said in the twenty five years he was in Congress he never say the Republican put forward a health care bill. Has anything changed? Well, the Trump administration is doing everything they can to repeal the health care we do have, putting 130,000,000 at risk of losing it. Is that your idea of winning?

National debt – big bug-a-boo when Bill Clinton and Obama were presidents. Now? This administration has racked up the most massive debt this country has ever seen.

Gun violence? Naw. Nothing. Nada.  

In fact, what have the Republicans and Trump done since being in office? 

Enriched the rich.

Packed the courts so the idea of a fair trial is negligible.

Oh yes, and kicked people off of voter rolls in key states so they can cheat out another win.

With the help of Russia.

305 Days until the 2020 election and 381 days to the Inauguration

PS Mr. Potatoe* Head

*Yes, I know. That’s a shout out to Dan Quayle (Ha ha ha ha ho)