This week marks the beginning of the 5th year of the War in Iraq. Pretty sad...
As of this week, the war has claimed the lives of more than 3,200 members of the U.S. military.
Thousands of Iraqi citizens are dead. Thousands upon thousands of US and allied forces have come home maimed and injured...
In congress right now...legislators are constructing a bill that would require the President, in order to get the funding he needs to keep the war going, to agree to a specific timetable for when the troops would begin to come home. George Bush and his spokespeople say that is a huge mistake, and a recipe for failure, and are warning congress not to send a bill with those kind of restrictions.
I was just thinking...Bush and the Republican party are historically very pro-business. They are the pro-Capitalist, pro-Free Market Economics party. So I was wondering...what if you were running a company...and you were WAY over budget with your current projects. Let's say the project was a disaster...that you had predicted that in a very short time it would be a success...and you had in fact PROCLAIMED it a success a year in...only to find as time went by that it was not only NOT a success...but was an unmitigated disaster.
And let's say that on the project's 5th birthday...you went before your board of Directors and asked them to be patient...and to keep funding this project you feel is so important. Despite the fact that critics from every corner say it will never work. Despite the fact that people have DIED because of your project...you say... "We can't afford to turn back...we have to keep on going..."
So your board of directors say to you..."OK...we'll keep giving you money. But if we're gonna keep giving you money, we want some fiscal responsibility. We're going to tie this new money (which we don't really HAVE, by the way, we're borrowing it)...we're going to tie it to a timetable for success. And you know what...we'll give you a couple more years. But you have to guarantee us that it will be successful by a certain date."
And what do you say? "Oh no...I'm not going to commit to any kind of date. You guys are nuts. I told you to be patient. I don't care if 75% of the stockholders in the company agree that this isn't working...you're going to give me the money anyway...and I am not going to be even remotely accountable for any success. Screw you!!"
Think you'd get the money with no conditions?
Think you'd get the money AT ALL?
Think you'd get to keep your job?
Think that anybody who is associated with you would EVER get hired again at the company?
I think maybe...if we tried running the war...and government...more like a business...and held the leaders accountable the way we hold BUSINESS leaders accountable for their companies...maybe...we could avoid getting in these kids of messes in the first place...
I think it's time for a meeting of the shareholders, don't you?
