Gary Hart - October 8, 2008
Rare is the catastrophe that does not offer some promise. The key is having the
genius to discover hope within the rubble.
An argument can be made that the current financial disaster offers a future
president, Obama in this case, the chance to transform the U.S. economy. A
weakened Wall Street and a chastened conservative community are not now in a
position to resist thoughtful and sober re-regulation of markets. The Reagan
era (actually Nixon-Reagan-Bush) is over and with it the arrogance that laissez
faire always presumes.
But recreation of another Rooseveltian period of 1932 to 1940, with a new set
of rules for intricate financial institutions, is not enough. We must transform
our economy from one of consumption to one of production, invest much more
heavily in new technologies, research, and invention, and start the process of
creating a post-carbon economy. The current wreckage must not simply be put
back together to recreate the old economy. It must be pushed out of the way to
make space for a new, 21st century economy.
The same may be said for foreign policy. Merely returning to the pre-Bush
status quo will not work because the new century features a host of new
realities: proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; the rise of stateless
nations; the threat of pandemics; failed and failing states; mass south-north
migrations; climate change; globalized economics; and the list continues. An
Obama administration will have responsibility for repairing damaged
international relations. It will also have the opportunity to create a new
round of institution building that includes international financial regulation
and cooperation, administration of a post-Kyoto treaty, reduction in nuclear
weapons, integration of public health services, and so on. Our new foreign
policy should be patterned on the immensely creative 1945 to 1948 Truman era.
When troops and equipment are returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, our military
should not merely be "re-set", the Washington code word for rebuilding the Cold
War military. Our defenses in the new century must acknowledge the
transformation of war and the changing nature of conflict which will require
new military structures, command and control systems, and even weapons
themselves.
The Wall Street disaster is a metaphor for excess and greed, but also for a
time gone by. The world of the new millennium requires not just a new
Democratic administration, but one that is prepared to transform our nation and
help transform the world.
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