[Buddha-l] The mess in America

[Richard Hayes]

On Thu, 2008-02-07 at 08:56 -0700, Jim Peavler wrote:

> I like this as an antidote to a lot of pollyannish things I keep  
> hearing some folks say about the current economy (which is holding my  
> retirement savings hostage by denying that they have any value anymore.

Normally I hate it when people start talking about politics on buddha-l,
because it almost always leads to ugly and unseemly Republican-bashing.
Given, however, that Barack Obama reportedly has a sister who once
thought about reading a book on Buddhism or something, I feel it is
legitimate to talk about him. To make a long story short, the guy scares
me half to death, precisely because he seems to be capable of nothing
but delivering totally empty promises (another Buddhist theme!) on which
he either won't ever be able to deliver or has already proved by his
voting record that he has no intention of honoring. 

Why is this guy so popular? I'm pretty sure he's popular for the same
reason the Buddha became so popular. Now if the Buddha had stopped at
the second noble truth, he would have gotten my vote. "Life is full of
suffering, because everybody is greedy and delusional." Now there is a
statement with which no one could possibly disagree. But when the Buddha
made a campaign promise that he could deliver people from suffering by
ridding them of greed, hatred and delusion, he launched himself from
terra firma into cloud cuckoo land. This promise, vacuous as it was, won
him lots of votes and endeared him to both the incense lobby and the
pilgrimage industry. And people have been following his example ever
since. Never stop at reality when you can promise people that you'll
usher in an unprecedented widespread radical transformation of human
character.

Don't worry about your retirement, Jim. The economy is resilient and
fundamentally healthy. The proposed 15% increase in base military
spending (which does NOT include any of the spending for the illegal
invasion and occupation of two sovereign nations, perhaps soon to be
joined by a third) will dramatically increase the national debt in the
US, but debt is just a sign of vibrancy and resilience. The fact that
the stock market is plummeting worldwide is just a temporary correction,
just as the fact that the average temperature of the earth is rising
more dramatically than even the gloomiest scientists predicted five
years ago is just a natural meteorological cycle. 

If you start feeling a little anxious, just remind yourself that Rudy
Giuliani has said that America has the best health-care system in the
world, and Mitt Romney has said that America is the greatest nation that
has ever existed in the history of the earth. (Ever noticed how
rhetorical inflation always compensates for economic and psychological
depression?)

Shunryu Suzuki supposedly said, "Everything is perfect just as it is,
but that doesn't mean it couldn't be better." The Republicans are
telling Americans that everything is perfect just as it is, and this
clown Obama is telling us they'll get even better if he's elected.
Between the Republicans and Obama, we seem to have a Zen master
(American style). 

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico