Change the course
“Staying the course” seems to be an ever-popular strategy in a variety of circumstances in America. However, in a changing global environment, we should consider looking for other alternatives, or we will be headed toward more financial, political, and environmental trouble in the years to come.
Let’s take President Bush’s attitude on the future of Iraq. Repeatedly he has told the American people the prerogative of the executive branch is to maintain the U.S. occupation of an invaded state for as long as he feels we need to be there. This has resulted recently in his approval ratings dropping to the lowest they have ever been, and now even the Republicans who supported him the most are calling for a plan to get our troops out of Iraq. The president is in a precarious position.
In the instance of business, look at General Motors. This company, and other American automobile makers, decided to ignore the threat of its more economic foreign competition and give huge discounts in its merchandise last summer hoping to move more product and pull itself out of a tailspin into the red. It didn’t work. Because of foreign carmakers’ ability to maximize fuel economy in the midst of record-high oil prices, they managed to outsell American companies who were still focusing on power and size in their trucks and SUV’s. GM announced last week that it will be closing down over a dozen factories laying off about 30,000 employees.
Finally, to global warming. This phenomenon is caused by carbon dioxide and other emissions being put in the air through factories and other secondary sources, due in part to mankind’s need to burn oil and coal to create electricity. In the last decade, governments the world over have written and adopted treaties, and attended summits in an effort to attend to the growing and very real problem of global warming. However, even with evidence mounting, the United States has refused to accept global warming as an actual threat until just recently. Now the problem has reared its ugly head. The world climate has risen almost a full degree, and according to some, it may be too late to stop stronger storms than Hurricane Katrina and larger typhoons than we have ever seen. There’s also the fear of an increase in tectonic plate shifting which causes earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.
The evidence shown in each of these cases should be a real wake-up call for Americans. “Staying the course” doesn’t seem to be working. We have adopted strategies for business, politics, and the environment over nearly 150 years and they have not seemed to fail us on this great a scale until now. The key here is to not accept the limitations that are placed on us by looking into the past for solutions to these problems. The global environment has changed. Those solutions will not and cannot solve the problems we face today. The only option is to come up with our own generation’s solutions. Let’s try to create a positive future instead of relying on the past, and watching it work against us.
– James Applebach