Battleangel

One of the best graphical representations of the outrageous military-related spending in the USA (Wallstats).

"Death and Taxes:2009" is a representational poster of the federal discretionary budget; the amount of money that is spent at the discretion of your elected representatives in Congress. Basically, your federal income taxes. The data is from the President’s budget request for 2009. It will be debated, amended, and approved by Congress by October 1st to begin the fiscal year.

The poster provides a uniquely revealing look at our national priorities, that fluctuate yearly, according to the wishes of the President, the power of Congress, and the will of the people. If you pay taxes, then you have paid for a small part of everything in the poster.

As a Swedish citizen highly critical of the USA, I’d thought I’d offer some perspectives on the US presidential election. It is a tad redundant but it had to be done.

The way I see it we come down to the same issue of military versus economic imperialism to borrow Chalmers Johnson’s terminology from "Sorrows of Empire". The point here is that America’s policies and its presidents usually fall into one of two categories. The important difference being that the economic imperialist approach is much harder to expose. But they are just two songs from the same old broken record. For the person staring down the barrel of an American gun, it wont matter all that much in the end. In that sense, a president like George W Bush is a blessing. American power when wielded in such a brazen way effectively drives a wedge between the US and its allies. But all of this is of course rather obvious.

Another obvious observation is that the world loves Obama, much to the ire of some American and Swedish commentators. If they had any sense at all they would realize that this is the best possible starting point for a nation that has irrevocably entangled itself with foreign nations and interests. Thankfully they don’t, or we’d have two economic imperialists. But this love affair with Obama is also part of the problem.

For Obama to make a real difference he would have to basically be lying about his positions, be as "radical" and insightful as Wright and Ayers, and that is simply too unbelievable. The US system may be broken in many ways, but to allow an actual progressive candidate who is in earnest critical of America’s role in the world to move to within a heartbeat of the White House, well, that is simply hard to believe. It is far too easy to sympathize with Obama. And of course it really hurts me every time I see the familiar wingnut smears. And my personality makes me inclined to want to decorate the streets with McCain’s and Palin’s intestines. But those are just feelings, just like the somewhat irrational inclination to believe that Obama can and will solve all the world’s problems. Given a personal, superficial look at the two candidates alone, obviously Obama is the superior choice. He is calm, intelligent, eloquent and by American standards fairly enlightened. But a deeper understanding of the United States and its history raises quite a few red flags. Especially in the light of his recent adoption of all too familiar American values. In short Obama seems to be falling into line.

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