Some thoughts about the political situation in the US

Yes, I am taking time out of my experience abroad in Nicaragua during an eventful election season here to pay attention to politics in the States. Hopefully writing this will get some of my thoughts out there and allow me to focus on completing my final few weeks here.

Here are a few links I would highly recommend checking out:

• A truly wonderful, touching and deeply spiritual letter to President-Elect Obama from the great Alice Walker
• A great piece (in a great series of pieces) on the vital role we, the people, must play in the new direction the United States must take and why we can't leave it all up to the Obama administration
• Latin American foreign policy and the next Secretary of State
• John Stewart reminded us a while back why things are so fucked up in the Middle East and why war and money won't fix it. All while making us laugh until we gasp for breath
• Saskia Sassen reminds us why financial markets are not economic growth
• A good, tight analysis of Obama's less-than-thrilling economic team

Alright, so, clearly the situation we've found ourselves in is a complete and total mess. We currently have an administration that doesn't know it's ass from a hole in the ground throwing billions of dollars of public money to their friends in the imaginary financial markets amidst the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of working class people have lost their jobs, both in the US and internationally. Global markets are destabalized which will not only exacerbate wealth inquality but will also throw the global food crisis into an all out catastrophe. Africa is deteriorating even further, with the war in the DR Congo reintensifying, Zimbabwe's political despot clinging desperately to power, Somolia getting even worse (who know that was possible?) and most other nation states in various states of disaray or collapse. The US government is still giving Colombia more aid than any other country in the western hemisphere despite a laundry list of well documented government sponsored human rights violations and authoritarianism. The executive administration is further weakening the already abysmal standards protecting our environment amidst a global environmental crisis of depleted resources and climate chaos. The US government refuses to denounce coup attempts against Bolivian President Evo Morales and takes an increasingly imperialist stance towards the country. Israel has shut down Gaza to international journalists and aid workers. The US government has decided to start conducting special operations inside borders of sovereign nations in blatent and brazen violation of international law. Again, things aren't good.

During all of this, the people of the United States have elected their first Black president, started questioning some of the basic tenents of capitalism in mainstream news sources, mobilized at unprecidented levels to show support in solidarity with same-sex couples in California who had their rights taken away on November 4th, and are demanding solutions to the various problems exhibited by the failing executive administration.

I hope that Barack Obama is taking note of this. He hasn't shown any indication of doing so thus far, with appointments of an economic team intrenched in the circles of people responsible for the policies that allowed the current crisis, a Secretary of State who is belligerently aggresive towards the middle east and has repeatedly turned a blind eye to human rights violations the world over, the retention of a Defense Secretary who has orchestrated an attempt at redefining international law to allow us to attack anyone we want, a head of the CIA who was complicit in torture and rendition policies, and more.

So, now that we have seemingly started to wake up, can we get on top of this? Can we show that we know, we care, and we won't accept the way things are? I know that I will raise my voice when I return in a little over two weeks, and will encourage everyone I possibly can to do so as well, but I'm only one person. We need a great tide of people and I implore everyone to be a part of that great tide for egalitatian change that is necessary to save the people and the planet.