According to Aristotle, a younger generation will try to correct the mistakes of its forebearers by adopting an opposite position. If X is wrong, and Y is the opposite of X, then Y must be the correct tack. Such radicalism is often misplaced, but after eight years of the George W. Bush administration, it might not be a bad idea. There are three areas where either a return to the status quo ante or outright repudiation of policy mistakes are crucial regardless of which party wins the executive in November:
1. Close the prison at Guantanamo Bay - Without question, this short-sighted, wrong-headed policy in the War on Terror has provoked more anti-American backlash than some of the prize pigs for which the Defense Department, CIA, and US Armed Forces are responsible. As awful as shoddy preparation and armament, extraordinary rendition, and the shame of Abu Ghraib have been, the ongoing detention of terror suspects at Gitmo embodies everything that was wrong with this administration. Gitmo signifies both how little the administration regards human rights and an utter disrespect for the rule of domestic Constitutional law and the spirit of international conventions. In addition to being neither compassionate nor conservative, the military detention center has not produced any significant counter-terrorist intelligence. All it does is piss off allies, disaffected Muslims, and Americans who still give a dman about the laws of the land. The glimmering hope that one of the suspects would provide valuable information to stop a ticking bomb never materialized. Shut Gitmo down. Apologize to the aggrieved. Find a better way.
2. Simplify taxation - Americans are not opposed to taxation if the proceeds to the public purse keeps the roads paved, the levies sturdy, and the country safe from military threat. What makes taxes so galling is the way legislators allocate tax receipts in the budget. A shift away from income and investment taxation towards consumption based taxes eliminates the size and scope of a government bureaucracy (IRS), will reduce the influence of lobbyists who grub for breaks for their corporate clients, and compel firms towards more efficient, externality-limiting means of production. Markets and consumer demand have signaled more preference of sustainable development and green technology. Rather than further complicate the tax code with breaks and subsidies to spur such investment, simplification of the tax code will result in a natural gravitation towards such ends.
3. Respect the office - Every policy blunder and scandal amount to a fundamental lack of respect for the presidency because every policy blunder and scandal - tax cuts, gross farm subsidies, unilateral military intervention in Iraq, torture memos, opaque secrecy, capricious use of executive privilege, the Plame affair, federal attorney sackings, sweetheart nuclear deal for India - seemed to stem from an extreme desire to advance pet, political agendas. They certainly did not tangibly benefit the American people. Few Americans find little in politics redeeming, and engendering such cynicism will erode confidence in an ostensibly successful, admirable institutional framework. Attempts by the executive to act above the laws he is intended to uphold are callow and disingenuous, and even after eight years, W demonstrated he is both incompetent at winning battles on his own and incapable of being accountable for his mistakes. What is worse is that he has left not only the country, but the office of the presidency in far worse shape than he found it. It is hardly surprising he managed to run another business into the ground despite having a highly connected support system. Whoever occupies the Oval Office next year must strive earnestly to restore faith in the presidency by distancing himself from the notion of all politics, all the time.
In short, the next president must take care to act within the framework of laws and favor a best practice approach rather than see what he can get away with. The bar ought to be higher for someone with such great power and responsibility, but Americans, tired of eight disingenuous years of Republican greed (big shock) may just be ready for someone who will not act like he is better than anyone else or the job he is supposed to do. Whoever comes next, please have some respect for the job you are trying so hard to earn, and, pretty please, with fucking sugar on top, carry yourself with the dignity the position deserves.
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