25 Years After 9/11 Our Country is Still Quite Whacko

A columnist noted that 9/11 sparked a craving for revenge. We started down a path of Afghanistan, Iraq and now Iran. Now, our prices are going higher. We have a President who is bat$hit and a Congress running for cover. The link says we need to refocus on the "common good." Yes, but what is that?

Every politician including Presidents thinks it can master the concept of the "common good." The best example I can think of that represented what a majority of voters agreed was the common good was World War II. There were dissenters but Germany and Japan were generally seen as villains and the country's interests were served by armed force. Korea worked OK but ultimately the "common good" was redefined from eliminating North Korea to drawing a line on a map and saying the common good is served by the North staying on its side. That's where it was before the war started.

Then came Vietnam where Democrats and Republicans both preached the common good of defeating Communists is this insignificant country was so obvious our young people should die. Young people said, "Wait a minute here. Just why is this in our interests?" We now know it was not in the common interests.

Bush II and Congress claimed the "common interests" after 9/11 was climbing mountains and bombing in Afghanistan. Then it was "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq. Instead of reflecting on what is actually important 9/11, took down whatever guardrails might have remained on the definition of "common interests." Now it includes taking over one country because it has oil and bombing another off the map because it has some buried uranium. It even includes tariffs on countries which have bruised the ego of a fragile President. 

In Congress there are "caucuses." The House formally registers them and in the Senate they are more informal. Each caucus focuses on a need or issue. It would be wrong, in my opinion, to call all of them "special interests" because some issues are broad and important. I tried to find out how many caucuses there are but could not. The list goes on for pages.

I could not find a caucus for "The Common Good."  If Democrats take over the House, a good first step would be to form a "Common Good Caucus" and start talking about what this means.