When we were in Vietnam they said that if Vietnam fell then the rest of Indochina would go Communist. They invoked the Domino theory to say one thing will cause another. Ten years later we left and Vietnam became a Communist country and nothing else happened. Then they said that if we didn't go in and take over Iraq they would have a weapon of mass destruction and throw it our way. The domino theory again. If we don't act then certain doom. We went in and could not find a weapon of mass destruction. We are still there. Then they said that if we didn't reelect the President the evil doers would come over and attack us and by the way we are on high alert for another attack. The other candidate looked very wimpy after some well placed swiftboating and we added torture and wiretapping the entire population to our Bill of Rights. Then they said that if we did not immediately give seven hundred billion dollars to the banks all hell would break loose. We gave seven hundred billion and all hell broke loose anyway. Then they said that if we did not bail out AIG to the tune of one hundred and seventy billion then the entire financial system would disintegrate. We gave AIG the money and they gave it to foreign banks and brokers and other people who they won't even name. The financial system might fall apart anyway and AIG is probably going away. The domino theory only works on fear and it has worked well for forty years. When I was a kid I used to line up dominoes on the floor and push one down and watch them fall. It was pretty cool. But sometimes, for no reason at all, the dominoes just stopped on their own. Go figure.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Domino Theory
When we were in Vietnam they said that if Vietnam fell then the rest of Indochina would go Communist. They invoked the Domino theory to say one thing will cause another. Ten years later we left and Vietnam became a Communist country and nothing else happened. Then they said that if we didn't go in and take over Iraq they would have a weapon of mass destruction and throw it our way. The domino theory again. If we don't act then certain doom. We went in and could not find a weapon of mass destruction. We are still there. Then they said that if we didn't reelect the President the evil doers would come over and attack us and by the way we are on high alert for another attack. The other candidate looked very wimpy after some well placed swiftboating and we added torture and wiretapping the entire population to our Bill of Rights. Then they said that if we did not immediately give seven hundred billion dollars to the banks all hell would break loose. We gave seven hundred billion and all hell broke loose anyway. Then they said that if we did not bail out AIG to the tune of one hundred and seventy billion then the entire financial system would disintegrate. We gave AIG the money and they gave it to foreign banks and brokers and other people who they won't even name. The financial system might fall apart anyway and AIG is probably going away. The domino theory only works on fear and it has worked well for forty years. When I was a kid I used to line up dominoes on the floor and push one down and watch them fall. It was pretty cool. But sometimes, for no reason at all, the dominoes just stopped on their own. Go figure.
