Politics of a New Paradigm

John McCain is obsessed with Zionist interests in the Middle East, and he’s been at it again, speaking to a “pro-Israel” group and criticizing his presumptive opponent, Barack Obama, for suggesting the possibility of opening talks with the Iranian government.

McCain’s myopic view of the world seems to include only American military engagement at the behest of Israel and nothing more. His economic vision seems to have nothing to do with the problems that are facing Americans. He sees the role of President of the United States as the grand Commander-In-Chief of some sort mercenary force employed by the state of Israel, but paid for with American tax dollars, our credit line with China, and the life and limb of our military youth.

I care a lot about getting our troops back home to their families, but to tell you the truth, I am struggling financially. I won’t bleed here about my own troubles, but most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and many are losing their homes. Energy costs are out of control, gasoline is four dollars a gallon, and health care is out of reach for many ordinary Americans. I think that pride has a lot to do with more people not talking about it, but it is hard to find a job that will pay a living wage. The cost of gasoline is driving up prices, so businesses are not thriving, and that trickles down to layoffs, less hiring, and lower wages. Personally, I am more concerned about having the ability to pay my rent next month than I am about the plight of the state of Israel. Yet, I hear nary a word out of John McCain’s mouth concerning how he is going to create an economic climate that addresses my own gravest concerns.

John McCain gets himself quoted by speaking to assemblages of aging veterans and hawkish Zionist groups. This is his core base of support. He has no frame of reference when it comes to the rest of us. It is tempting to write that McCain should go to Flint, Michigan or Trenton, New Jersey, and other urban areas around the country and listen to the concerns of the people who live in the inner city, not just wealthy Zionist donors and puppeteers. And yes, he should, but these days, there is no middle class, so “the poor” are hardly discernible from what was once called the middle class, so he should actually listen to the people on Main Street as well. McCain has never had to worry about money, and like Bush, Sr., I doubt that he knows what a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread costs. The numbers he deals with are billions, and how to steer them into the pockets of his military cronies who are in the business of developing, buying, selling, and using instruments of human destruction.

I want to know how McCain is going to pay for unlimited wars on unlimited fronts for unlimited durations while making sure that everyone here at home has an ample opportunity to pursue the American dream of a good job, a nice home, a healthy body, clean air and water, and the freedom to eat well and travel affordably. I think that someone needs to remind McCain the he is running for President of the United States, not Israel.

We have very real and significant problems right here, in America. Bush has diverted attention from his horrible, tragically failed domestic record with the “wars” that he conveniently created to inflate his own importance, expand executive powers and funnel obscene sums of money into the coiffures of big oil and military contractors. Like Bush, John McCain has no ideas, no vision, and no real empathy for the average American. He simply doesn’t care about you and me. Or sadder still, he doesn’t even know that we exist.