Is it still a mad, mad world?
If you look back on July 2014, it was a month filled with wars and rumors of wars, some of Biblical proportion. An airliner carrying nearly 300 men, women and children shot down over the border between Ukraine and Russia and the civil war continues there; Israel reacts to the continued rocket attacks from Hamas by invading the Gaza; ISSA continued its drive to take complete control of Iraq; the civil wars in Nigeria and Syria continue. President Putin maintains his scowl for all the world to see as he stomps around the Kremlin, breaking 20-year-old treaties and demanding that Russia return to its glory days of the cold war and its retaliation on those who oppose its rightful place as a world wide power.
So here we are in November of 2015 and the various wars around the world are still raging. A lawsuit against the president lurks somewhere in the Capitol. Border control legislation is being considered in the House, but is highly unlikely to pass the Senate or to be signed into law by the President. And the Congress has gone home to rest and chat with the citizens of their various districts, answering questions about how they voted on the resolution to sue the president and other important things that come to the minds of those who attend receptions and fundraisers. Makes you proud to be an American to know that those whom we have elected have spent the last two years dallying around Washington running back and forth to the floors of the House and the Senate to say repeatedly, “hell no” in the House, “no I won’t and neither will I let you,” a favorite line of Senator Ted Cruz.
This Congress has the worst track record of passing legislation of any Congress in the past has earned an approval rating of 13 percent, the lowest since 1974.
Notwithstanding these rather measurable facts, the economy seems to be improving and the stock market is chugging along nicely. There even seems to be a decrease in the murder rate in Chicago. On top of this, football season is in full swing, and if the Raiders get what they want from Oakland they won’t move to San Antonio.
Which brings me back to the question, “do we live in a mad, mad world?” Or not? No, I don’t think we do. More likely it is that we live in a time when the way things were is over. We are going through what might be called a global metamorphosis and its impact can be felt just about everywhere.
Keep in mind that a global metamorphosis took place in the early 20th century following WWI when Europe was changed dramatically. In the 1930s, WWII began with Germany, Japan and Italy engulfing the world in a world war based political/sociological/ideological ideals and attempted to repressed individual freedoms by every and any means possible. Following WWII, the US and USSR faced off against each other. The ideological war of words and threats be between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. ended in 1989 with the devolution of the U.S.S.R.
Yes, Russia under President Vladimir Putin seems to want to return to the bad old days, but a new approach has been developed in response to the actions taken by Russia. Instead of going to war, Europe and the U.S. are using “sanctions” against the financial centers in Moscow and their financially elite. “Hitting them where it hurts most, in the pocket book,” as the old saying goes.
If the world were as mad and demented as some would like us to believe, the sanctions would have been a declaration of war and our troops would be headed toward Ukraine or any one of the world’s many hot spots. Yes, it may be to early to say “the sanctions are working as we hoped they would.” But it is equally important to recognize that disrupting Russia’s economic system is far better than bombing Moscow and having New York City bombed in return. For the most part, except for the internecine wars that start and end almost on a daily basis, here at home our mad, mad world seems to be taking a fall recess.
