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"The war goes on, and we are winning."--President George Bush

"Republicans seem to think there is an inspiring quality in giving more money to the top one percent. When I read this, I am reminded of the 'Horse and Sparrow' theory of economics--that if you feed enough oats to the horse, some will pass through to feed the sparrows."--John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist

"The spectacle of the United States, armed with its weapons of mass destruction, acting without Security Council authority to invade a country in the heartland of Arabia... could set loose forces that we would deeply live to regret."--Richard Butler, Former U.N. Arms Inspector

I was tired last night and I fell asleep while listening to President Bush's State of the Union Address. Bush's prescriptions for a better domestic policy and better foreign policy were as simple as Bush's mentality: more tax cuts and more wars to make peace. President Bush explains that more tax cuts and more wars means more money for investments and more money for investments means more jobs for the rest of the American people, and more jobs for the rest of the American people means better Return On Investments (ROI) and more ROI means more tax cuts and wars and more tax cuts and wars means more money for investments, and so we have a vicious cycle taking the Americans and the world to a precipice.

I don't really subscribe to President Bush's prescriptions for the economy and for peace. We live in a messy world, where everybody is normally confused and everybody is normally doubtful, and everybody is different. However, here was President Bush telling the American people and the world that everything is simple and everything is a matter of money. This is not true, as everything is not really simple but complex, as there is life before money. There is life to decide what is best for all of us, there is life to decide that peace is better than war.

Our world is messy, and it is not by money and wars that we can claim a better world. We need understanding before we need Bush's prescriptions, we need changes before we need yet another war.

References

The Guardian Profile: John Kenneth Galbraith http://education.guardian.co.uk/academicexperts/story/0,1392,680767,00.html

U.S. Guilty of 'Shocking Double Standards' on Iraq - Butler Published on Tuesday, January 28, 2003 by Reuters http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0128-02.htm

State of the Union Address by President George W. Bush . The U.S. Capitol, January 28, 2003 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html