Day: December 31, 2009

The Major Political Stories Of The Decade That Was: 2000-2009

Ronald 1 Comment

I see eight major events of the 2000s decade in the realm of politics. In chronological order, they are the following:

2000–The Contested Presidential Election Between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

2001–The Attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11.

2003–The beginning of the disastrous Iraq War, based on false intelligence and incompetent management.

2005-Hurricane Katrina and the poor response by all levels of government to this natural disaster.

2006–The return of the Democrats to control of the Congress after 12 years of Republican rule.

2008–The collapse of the American economy beginning on Wall Street and working its way through the entire nation on many levels, including housing, unemployment, and bankruptcies.

2009–The inauguration of the first African American President Barack Obama, and the hope it engendered.

2009–The most significant social legislation (health care reform) since the 1960s in process through Congress as the decade ends.

Also, two other stories in international affairs have permeated this decade we are now finishing, and will continue to be major centers of attention in the new decade: The economic growth of China and India, and the growing menace of Iran in the Middle East and world affairs.

May we hope for a better decade than the one we are ending tonight!

Happy New Year and New Decade to everyone who reads this blog! 🙂

The 2000s Decade: Five Disturbing Trends

Ronald Leave a comment

The decade now ending saw certain trends that are very disturbing for the long run!

A key term is CORRUPTION, which became so widespread both politically and economically that it has caused great skepticism among the American people as to the future course of American democracy and capitalism.

Another key term is ABUSE OF POWER on the presidential level, which became endemic during the administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and has led to negativism toward Federal government authority under Barack Obama.

A third term is INCOMPETENCE, which showed up so often in the poor intelligence gathering before September 11, the waging of the Iraq War, the handling of Hurricane Katrina, and the short term reaction to the collapse of the stock market in 2008.

A fourth term is EXTREME PARTISANSHIP, a trend which has been developing since the Clinton years, but reached higher levels in the Bush years, and continues in the Obama years, where there is absolutely no sense of national purpose that unites Republicans and Democrats to cooperate and work together for the public good.

A final term is PESSIMISM ON THE FUTURE of the country, very disturbing as America is still seen as the world’s leader, but going through extremely difficult times.

Let’s hope that the next decade will see the decline of these disturbing trends of the first decade of the 21st century! 🙁