What about Iran

The following was written before Iran's leaders showed their brutal resistance to modern civil rights doctrines.

*  Leaders and thinkers of numerous countries accuse Iran of harmful actions and ambitions.  They expect Iran to use its soon to be improved relations and income to increase harm.  This is sad, inasmuch as Iran might have been our friend, but for factors outside its control.
 *  The Cold War forced us to vie with the Soviets for allies and resources around the world.  This competition corrupted numerous former colonies, and it caused us to subvert the 1953 election of a nationalist leader in Iran (by fomenting a riot), giving power to the Shah, who squandered his position and abused his subjects, and provided us cheap oil.  Therefore, we were justifiably targeted by the Islamic Revolution.  Their detention of our embassy personnel gave us the misanthropic Reagan revolution led now by Rush Limbaugh, so Iranians should feel adequately avenged.
 *  Having punished us that much, Iran might wish to reconcile with us when it ascends to a dominant position in the middle east.  It might have done so already were it not for the inflammatory effect of Palestinian suffering.  We may find ourselves cooperating willy-nilly in combating ISIS.
 *  Iran’s populace is almost homogeneous with respect to ethnicity and religion.  Consequently it will probably endure as a sovereign nation with stable borders and with submissive and/or supportive populace far into the future.  The rulers and populace belong to each other, unlike Syria, Iraq, Israel, Emirates, etc.  Moreover, its populace is educated, industrious and western leaning, unlike many of its near and distant neighbors.  Therefore, Iran should eventually be the most prosperous, stable, secure, disciplined and happy nation in the middle east.
 *  Most of Iran’s conflicts are elective, in support of its endangered friends.  Iran shouldn’t fear invasion or theft by neighbors except as provoked by its belligerence, but it does fear attack by various Sunni or Jewish neighbors.  That fear would be less if they were our friend.
 *  With respect to our dispute with Iran, qui bono?  I've been wondering about this for some time.

What about Cuba

 *  Beginning with the Cuban revolution, I have contemplated a counterfactual history better than the actual one.  For example, could Castro have turned to democracy had we respected the revolution?  Could we have respected the revolution had our relations been lawful and altruistic?  Would this have been better for average Cubans?
 *  Two decades ago the Cuba embargo ceased to be justified by our national security, and I hoped that President Clinton would begin lifting prohibitions and special immigration rules.  At that time, Latin-American socialist countries were no threat to us.  Now, President Obama has the wisdom and courage to begin normalizing Cuban-American relations.
 *  My enthusiasm for opening up US-Cuba relations is somewhat dampened by the possibility that Cuba might be better off without US investment, trade and influence.  Specifically, isolation from us probably preserved Cuba from capitalistic over-exploitation of their resources, including recreational and agricultural ones; and it probably protected Cuba from the corrupting effect of American dominance, including New-York-mafia influence.
 *  The supposition that life of an average Cuban citizen under communism was very restricted, deprived and slavish, and that liberation by us would be good for the Cuban populace seems questionable.  When one considers the large proportion of our citizens who are uneducated, impoverished, isolated, bored, depressed, disappointed, excluded, invisible, hopeless, disaffected and/or incarcerated, then the average Cuban condition may not be worse than the average American condition.  Cuba and its people fared better than many non-communist island nations, eg Haiti and Puerto Rico, possibly Philippines.
 *  American life looks great from afar because only rich or celebrity Americans were traditionally exposed internationally.  Average Americans were not.  Moreover, material wealth is not the only wealth.  The security and prestige sought by most in the capitalist rat race are elusive.  Last week driving home, I was detoured into a neighborhood of  houses fit for royalty.  I couldn’t help wondering whether the satisfactions sought by the planners and owners of those houses would ever materialize.  If not, then they were little happier than average Cubans over the past half century.
 *  Finally, I would vouchsafe that the average Cuban’s ratio of happiness to environmental destruction is far higher than the average American’s.
 *  US-Cuba dynamics were addressed in this blog near its beginning, Feb 28, 2007.

Disrespect of a great president

 *  The July-1 Tennessee Voices column by Ryan Haynes set me to wondering why many of my kin and friends are attracted to the Republican party.  Like a Rush Limbaugh broadcast, the article is a stream of unsubstantiated and misleading invective against President Obama and the ACA.  I take implacable umbrage with Haynes’ declaration: “The effort to restore dignity to the White House must begin now.”  This could come only from someone so immersed in racist company as not to recognize racism.  It is hard to recognize a characteristic shared by everyone at the barbecue.

 *  Based on my experience of 13 presidents (beginning with Roosevelt), I conclude that Obama is among the more informed, rational, sober, capable, ethical, even tempered and dignified of our presidents--far more than Bush II, who led the unethical, expensive and harmful invasion of Iraq to distract from Afghanistan stalemate, which destabilized Syria and upset the power balance in the neighborhood–also far more than Donald Trump, now leading Republican polls.

 *  Talk about “untethered...from...reality”.  The Republican myth that people “know their health best and how to properly manage it”, is untethered from reality.  When trying to pay for shelter, transportation, food, clothing, communication, education and entertainment in a safe neighborhood, people neglect retirement saving and insurance.  Democratic programs address these two natural neglects with Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and ACA.  Republicans count on Democrats to save America from Republican doctrines.

 *  Were it not for Democratic social programs to expand the fraction of our population with a stake in our economic system, we would probably have seen Wall Street and Greenwich Connecticut burn long ago.  Contrary to mythology of both parties, we cannot forever solve our societal problems by economic growth, accelerating the conversion of resources to waste.  Eventually, we will have to share a more steady-state economy/society–or burn.