It took a cataclysmic civil war to end slavery. It took an attack on Pearl Harbor by one Axis power and the subsequent declaration of war on us by Nazi Germany to bring America into the fight against fascism in the middle of the 20th century. And it took innumerable acts of nonviolent protest to end legalized segregation. We, in other words, never simply wake up one morning and decide to bend the arc of the universe toward justice. As the old aphorism puts it, Americans do the right thing only once we have exhausted every other possibility.
"But Xmastime", you say in the voice of Craig “Ironhead” Heyward from those soap commercials (RIP), “didn't you point this phenomenon out sixteen years ago?"
Sigh. Yes I did, faithful readerWe're patting ourselves on the back for getting rid of Bush, but we are, as usual, about four years behind. And we STILL almost elected his successor, were it not for the financial crisis....which, what do you know, nobody bothered to do anything about until shit went tits up. TITS UP - this seems to be our modus operandi now; if you want any change at all, you hafta wait for complete disaster. Until global warming completely destroys a part of the country we give a shit about, nothing will be done on that. So to keep the auto industry in the status quo is to set us back years again re: alternate fuels and energy et al. Because unless they HAVE to change things, they won't. Why would they?
Don't bankroll them, make them go tits-up...and WHAT DO YOU KNOW, I'm guessing they'll "all of a sudden" start coming up with ideas they should've been implementing a long time ago.
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