Visions of the Future

John McCain envisions a victory in Iraq by 2013. What does this mean? It means that the foot of the American Empire will be so heavily on the throat of the people of Iraq and the puppet government of Iraq that America will have full access to the oil resources of Iraq and there will be little that Iraqis can do about it. It means that all Iraqis will be subject to retinal scans every time they want to buy groceries. It means that Iraqis will not have freedom or wealth and certainly does not reflect a victory for the Iraqi people. But that never was the goal.

Barack Obama has not promised a victory in Iraq by a certain date, but his goal for Iraq is essentially the same as McCain’s. Obama wants to reduce American casualties, which probably means he will resort to increased remote bombing in Iraq with the increase of Iraqi civilian deaths because Iraqi lives are far less valuable and important than American ones. The best way to control Iraq while reducing American casualties is to remove American soldiers as much as possible from the streets and roads of Iraq, and to transfer the violence to airborne firepower and bombing, which are far less than precise and often indiscriminate.

The supporters of Obama in this current political campaign envision an end to the war in Iraq, but it will not happen. They envision a compassionate American government that will provide for their healthcare, but it will not happen. American does not have the funds to pay for the things Barack Obama’s supporters expect, but Barack will not bother to share this fact until after he is elected. Obama supporters envision a throttling of corporate power, but that will not happen, either.

McCain supporters expect more war. And they will likely get it. Although the pending bankruptcy of the American government may make it impossible to continue the warfare state. An attack on Iran or Venezuela may result in the stratospheric rise in petroleum prices matched with loss of availability of crude oil for the American market. An attack on Iran could be viewed by China as an attack on China, unleashing electronic/internet warfare by professional and military hackers than could bring the American economy and electrical grid to nothing. It is hard to fight wars when the national economy is destroyed, except for the desperate act of dropping a few atomic or hydrogen bombs. McCain supporters would probably support nuclear war in the abstract, but they will regret it when it signifies the total end of the American Dream as they have known it and a final collapse of the American Empire.

There are no visions of the future that are pretty when reality is imposed. Americans like to dream the American Dream, but reality will turn it into a nightmare within the next five to ten years and there will be no winners under the current definitions of win/loss in the capitalist societies of the world.

One thing that is entirely predictable with fair accuracy — whomever wins the presidency in 2008 will live to regret it, and so will Americans and their friends and enemies around the world.