- THE
FOLLOWING GRAPHS WILL
BE UPDATED REGULARLY
TO KEEP YOU ABREAST OF
CHANGING DEVELOPMENTS
IN POLITICAL, ECONOMIC,
AND WORLD AFFAIRS.
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- PLEASE
REFER TO MY BOOK EARTH
CHANGES FOR
DETAILS CONCERNING THEIR
SIGNIFICANCE.
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CHANGING DEVELOPMENTS IN POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, AND WORLD AFFAIRS.
Governments
will continue to become more powerful
and centralized during this warm
period. New dictatorships will
arise like that taking place in
Venezuela. The U.S. Federal government
will also grow larger and more
powerful, reducing the civil rights
of American citizens in order
to better fight and prepare for
domestic terrorists acts. The
large number of government scandals
and, subsequent, congressional
ethical reforms are also likely
to continue in greater number.
Since 2008 turned out to be cooler
than 2007 the landmark Supreme
Court casel finally decided that
the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution
is an "individual" right
and not a "collective"
right to possess a firearm.
Consider
how the Republican Party in this
current warm trend has shifted
its traditional principles. A
smaller federal government has
always been the GOP pledge, but
Bush and the Republican-led Congress
have let spending escalate, expanded
Medicare - a socialism entitlement
program - to the greatest levels
since the liberal 1960's. It has
also expanded the bureaucratic
power of the Department of Education
to influence each and every state's
educational requirements. A balanced
budget, once a sought-after goal
of Republicans, has been completely
abandoned as deficits and the
total debt continue to soar. Where
has the traditional Republican
ideal gone when national security
issues override civil liberties?
The federal government wants to
be able to spy on Americans without
warrants. It also wants to take
away the right to own a gun from
anyone suspected - but not charged
or convicted - of ties to terrorism.
The Republicans are also meddling
in other private affairs once
the target of only liberals. For
instance, why should the federal
government regulate marriage with
a constitutional amendment - let
the states decide as they have
throughout American history. And
why increase the number of federal
crimes, like"hate crimes,"
when the states already have laws
governing crimes of all kinds.
The federal government should
deal with foreign affairs, cross
border commerce, and national
security crimes - not common felonies
best left to the states to prosecute.
There has
been a shift during the Bush years
to a new style of conservatism
that believes big government can
achieve conservative agendas.
The Goldwater and Reagan dream
of limited government, individual
liberties, and federalism have
all fallen by the wayside during
this current warming trend. Conservatives
have moved from the isolationism
of the 1950s to the interventionism
of the Bush administration. The
"warm trend" idea that
domestic policy can be reordered
like world order used to be a
strictly liberal policy, now both
parties share this belief.
Prices
will rise (see Inflation Warning
and the War in Iraq in the articles
section). Public works projects
will be called upon to stimulate
slow sectors of the economy and
bolster political votes. Large
business monopolies will continue
to form. Government regulations
will increase Moral decadence,
sexual promiscuity, a lethargic
populace, and declining health
will add to the nature of this
warm trend. And, yet, art will
flourish, team sports will be
popular, great discoveries and
insights will take place by scientists,
inventors, and novel thinkers.
Abstract theology and mysticism
will prevail in the philosophical
realm.
George
Bush has lived up to many Republican
ideals during his tenure: cut
the Federal tax twice; supported
the 2nd Amendment; put conservative
"Constitutionalists"
on the Supreme Court; and passed
a drug benefit plan. All these
are in keeping with the "meaning"
of the cool trend in which he
was first elected. Beset by a
preoccupation with the war on
terrorism and several natural
disasters, he has done little
domestically. Cool trends are
all about personal freedom and
nationalism. Instead of focusing
on internal matters (with the
great exception of national defense)
Bush has pursued a policy of pushing
democracy wherever possible. This
is a cool trend idea but it has
been applied internationally (warm
trend) in unlikely places for
liberty to exist. The principle
of self-determination has backfired
for Bush in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon,
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Central Asia,
the Balkans, and South America.
Instead of expanding liberty around
the world by humbly showing people
the moral superiority of freedom
as Ronald Reagan did, Bush has
tried to impose our definition
of freedom and way of life on
other nations. This is a mistake
and will fail during cool trends.
His policy in Iraq has indeed
failed. The warm 2005 and the
super warm 2006 called for a renewal
of the war in Iraq - and a major
change in strategy. Cooler 2007
and 2008 has correlated with a
recall of our troops in Iraq after
an initial "surge" in
their numbers to quell the insurgency
and give the faltering Iraqi government
and security forces more time
to get their act together.
One reason
that the Bush administration has
acted more in keeping with a short
"warm trend" rather
than a "cool trend"
from 2000-2004 is the fact that
U.S. and world temperatures are
still above average. The graph
below shows the above average
temperatures that have existed
since 1960 based on the overall
trend (a statistical running average
of all highs and lows). A liberal
agenda is now in place with the
democrats controlling both the
House and the Senate. This is
in keeping with the short warm
trend that began in 2005.
Non-military
government spending increased
at a faster pace under George
W. Bush than under any president
since Lyndon B. Johnson. Centralized
federal control and reduced civil
liberties have increased due to
the Patriot Act, the Homeland
Security Act, and other legislative
decrees issued to fight terrorism.
These are all warm trend phenomena!
The nation needs reform minded
(cool trend) leaders. Obama fits
the bill since he was elected
during a short cooling trend.
Be mindful, however, that the
long temperature trend is still
warm.
Just as World War II was a continuation
of World War I, the Gulf War of
1990 continued with the war to
eliminate Saddam Hussein (Desert
Storm); this, in turn, has given
rise to the Iraqi insurgency.
This is a bad place for us to
remain - a Vietnam situation.
Warm trends mean foreign entanglements.
Our dependence on foreign oil
continues to climb. Imports
are expected to grow from 55%
in 2001 to 68% by 2025.
Our dependence extends beyond
energy too. America has
become dependent on foreign immigrates.
Bush's 2003 law to grant semi-legal
status to immigrants is just the
latest example of foreigners meeting
our labor force requirements.
Illegal's displace, as a result,
more than 700,000 American workers
annually. The total cost
to our economy, including social
services, of this influx of foreign
labor is roughly $20 billion per
year.
Still another way the long warm
trend continues to haunt us is
in our outsourcing of U.S. jobs
to cheap overseas labor markets.
But the most striking example
of the way America is spread-out
overseas is the trade deficit.
The U.S. trade shortfall with
Japan and China alone will total
about $190 billion for 2003. Almost
half of U.S. treasury bonds are
owned by Asians! This economic
dependency could soon bankrupt
our nation. Please read the article
"Inflation Warning and the
War in Iraq" for more information
concerning our national debt and
the dependency on oil.
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