Wednesday, January 21, 2009
John Kusumi Refuses to Unify!
| January 21, 2009 at 22:40:38 Permalink
Diary Entry by John Kusumi |
:::::::: In a short version of world history, civilization dawned, followed by the agricultural revolution, the American revolution, the industrial revolution, the information (tech) revolution, and Bill Clinton’s anti-industrial revolution. The United States has been in a backward slide ever since that latter matter—Bill Clinton’s trade policy—came about. Bill Clinton’s anti-industrial revolution was followed by George W. Bush’s anti-American or anti-civilization revolution. The story of civilization was one of progress (albeit with setbacks too) for centuries—until U.S. Presidents of the Baby Boomer generation began their nefarious work of reversing everything. In my lexicon, "globalization" is "boomer-nomics." I stand safely in Generation X, and it wasn’t invented here! Today was the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States. Baby Boomers exist in two tranches: from the first decade, they were called hippies. From the second decade, they were called yuppies. The new President, Barack Obama, comes from that second tranche. Too young to have fought in Vietnam, some people like to call his age group "Generation Jones." (However, if one adheres to 18 years per generation, yuppies are still technically Baby Boomers.) Only five years of age separates Obama and myself. The first term of Ronald Reagan would have been my time in a Catholic high school, and Obama’s time in college. That’s when I was palling around in a group of geeky misfits – one cartoon artist and comic book collector; one future journalist and political hack; one left-handed paragon of immaturity who learned computer programming at my elbow; and myself, computer hobbyist and soon to be an independent 18-year-old write in candidate for U.S. President. I am given to understand that Obama is both left-handed and a comic book collector; he might have been geeky enough to fit right in. Post-moon landing, post-Vietnam, and post-Watergate, the early eighties were a time of the "disco sucks" backlash, and my group was all agog about the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a book which had developed a cult following (as had the Rocky Horror Picture Show, another element in the day’s milieu). Besides comic books, Star Trek and Star Wars items were prized collectibles. But, I digress. Civilization might have a splendid story from its hunter-gatherer beginnings up to the inauguration of Barack Obama, but for the setbacks which we can see in the story above, introduced by his two predecessors whom I would throw in jail, if I were coming to power. Those levels of malfeasance should not be acceptable, even if they are coming from the President of the United States. I also have raised eyebrows for Ronald Reagan and for George H.W. Bush – the four Presidents of my adult lifetime amount to the ’Mount Rushmore of Corruption.’ I have also suggested Nuremberg-style trials for Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. Were I coming to power, they would indeed face correctional action. There is a reason why Obama inherits myriad problems, with America in a dire and urgent condition of multiple, compound crises. It is because America has been badly wounded through the mismanagement of the past four Presidents. The same harm, injury, and damage was ‘sold in’ by Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather—the three leading propagandists of late 20th-century America. Their levels of bamboozling and hoodwinking the public should not be acceptable, even if they are coming from ABC, CBS, and NBC—three unelected entities, as are all journalists. I believe that America’s MSM must stop maintaining a narrative that has been anti-industrial, anti-American, and anti-civilization—and that they should pause to admit how flawed and faulty this propaganda has been. Now, any new President has a three item checklist of things to do: restore industry, restore America, and restore civilization. I can believe that Barack Obama is well intentioned, and I do in fact wish good luck and good fortune upon him and America. But I did not vote for him, there being Ralph Nader who was an available alternative; and, Obama has yet to close the sale with me. I won’t be "unifying" based on what I have seen to date, which has been bluster, hot air, rhetoric, pomp, and circumstance. The foregoing may be necessary prologue, but actions speak louder than words. So, I am being a "show me" type. To get my seal of approval, Obama must make me feel better about civilization, America, and industry. America’s finances and America’s news media also need repair. What would progress look like? Civilization Why was civilization better than barbarity? –It was better because it enabled survival of the individual, and survival of the species. It was a veneer of protection against capricious and arbitrary crime and murder. To restore civilization, Obama should embrace the International Criminal Court (ICC), which exists to prosecute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Murderers belong in prisons, not in world leadership. A very ugly signal is sent in the alternative. If Obama does not embrace the ICC, could that be because he reserves to himself the right to commit genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity? That is the political appearance which rejection of the ICC presents. America Why was America better than what came before? –Among many possible answers, it was better because of its legal system, with equality before the law and with no man above the law. The justice system was imperfect, but at least it was functional, and the rights upheld enabled scrutiny and further perfection. To restore America, it is necessary to prosecute George W. Bush. With violations of the UN Charter, the US Constitution, the Geneva Conventions, international law, the Law Of Armed Conflict, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there is no shortage of reasons to prosecute George Bush. A signal must be sent that the U.S. justice system is back in business, is once more functional, and is up and running again. How is it that Bill Clinton’s blow job and Richard Nixon’s burglary each merited impeachment—but that George Bush’s gratuitous war (a far more deadly transgression) doesn’t merit correctional action? The ICC is supposed to prosecute war crimes when the local justice system cannot do so. Therefore, if America does not take up the case of George Bush, then we will have the embarrassment of international prosecution of the same case, even if Obama has not embraced the ICC. That circumstance will send the signal that America’s justice system is dysfunctional. The world should be looking at America and thinking, "You owe us atonement." Until we redress the grievous excesses of the Bush administration, it’s hard to ascribe credibility to the American justice system. If we fail at both embracing the ICC and at prosecuting George Bush, then that is the guilty demeanor of the U.S. government. Perhaps we could find a giant "Out of order" sign to tape up over the capital. Industry Bill Clinton’s trade deficit-inducing anti-industrial trade policy must be reversed. America cannot "get back to normal" until all three of these steps are taken. Embrace the ICC; prosecute George Bush; and repudiate the anti-industrial revolution of Bill Clinton. At that point, if and when America "gets back to normal," then what will it face? Broken finances, and a broken news media, masking gaps in health care and education, and deficit spending on too much militarism. In my adult lifetime, that is the normal condition of the U.S. polity. Those are the matters that I challenged in 1984, when I was the 18-year-old write in candidate for U.S. President. To me, those latter matters are the "normal" problems of America, and every political candidate will have his or her own favorite answers, programs, and platform planks in that arena. That’s the "hum drum" political arena, and I myself have moved along to other fields of endeavor. I don’t need to tackle the hum drum, but I do continue to advocate about the matter of U.S.-China policy. U.S.-China policy is the flip side, or the same coin, as Bill Clinton’s trade deficit-inducing anti-industrial trade policy. My advocacy on that matter can be picked up from a television interview at tinyurl.com/4vclfc. Conclusion I could continue to write about America’s finances and America’s news media (and previously, I have); but, those are hum drum issues. These days, I am not a politician—merely a concerned citizen. Above, I have spoken to some matters that are truly extraordinary—the hangover from recent Presidents who could be the ‘Mount Rushmore of Corruption.’ As noted, I am a well wisher to Barack Obama and to the United States of America. But as yet, I refuse to "unify" with his administration, because the future includes two possibilities. Either it will repudiate the Mount Rushmore of Corruption, or it will join it. My endorsement would be a blank check, indicating my carte blanche approval of any possible handling of these issues to come—and they are such major, important issues that there can be no blank check. I hold it important, and will hew to my insistence, that there must be a civilization, an America, and industry that are functional, rather than malfunctioning. We cannot emerge from a time of crisis unless and until the U.S. government makes progress on these fronts. It is too early to declare that the crises have passed—although it is good news that these crises were self-inflicted. Made by U.S. Presidents, they can be removed by U.S. Presidents.
John Kusumi ran independently for U.S. President in 1984, as the teenager going up against Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. He was the first Generation X politician in U.S. federal elections, and Ronald Reagan's youngest political opponent ever. In 1989 Kusumi launched the China Support Network, a grassroots organization of Americans supporting the Chinese democracy movement - amid outpouring of response to the massacre of college students and other civilians in and around Tiananmen Square.
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