2040 MATTERS

A look back at 2015.

National Security

August 24, 2015

Discussing the threat posed by the Islamic State well before the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino:

“There is scholarly debate about whether IS has adopted al Qaeda’s emphasis on attacking the far enemy, with the Charlie Hebdo attacks signaling a turn in this direction. But even if IS has not fully embraced the al Qaeda vision, it has inspired and sanctioned attacks in the U.S. and Europe, as we were just reminded by the events in France. Moreover, as western fighters leave Iraq and Syria and return home, there is great concern that they will carry out attacks under the IS banner. Thus, even if attacking the U.S. is not #1 on IS’s “to do list,” it’s still on the list.”

September 9, 2015

Commenting on the West’s failure to view the mass migration crisis in Europe as an opportunity to wage a more effective propaganda war with the Islamic State and al Qaeda:

“The West and the refugees in Europe would both be better off if Western leaders saw the mass migration crisis as an opportunity to build a symbolic battleship to fight in the propaganda war we are waging with IS and al Qaeda. This ship will soon sail. Let’s not miss this boat too.”

October 8, 2015

Arguing that the West is struggling with fanatical Islamic terror as well as aggressive nations because we see the world as we want it to be, rather than as it is:

“In 1991, we moved on, just as we did in 1648. The rest of the world, however, either didn’t get the memo, or put the parts it didn’t like in the circular file. Today, the West doesn’t fully understand (or is willfully blind to the fact) that the rest of the world has not abandoned ideological struggle, the use of force to resolve disputes, or Machiavellian international politics. We continue to see international relations through rose-colored glasses — the prism of the forward march of history.”

December 10, 2015

Explaining that the Administration lacks a strategy for defeating fanatical Islamic terror:

“The Administration may have discarded the “global war on terror” nomenclature, but fanatical Islamic terror is global and at war with the U.S.  We need a comprehensive strategy to defeat this cancer, rather than shrink and then remove just one tumor.”

Civic Engagement

August 3, 2015

Encouraging Generation X+ to stop helicopter parenting and instead engage on the public policy challenges facing our children:

“How happy and content are the well-rounded and well-educated, yet unemployed and heavily taxed and/or indebted, young people in Greece?  Spain?”

September 3, 2015

Noting that parents need to carve out some time to increase their civic engagement on behalf of their children:

“Our kids are facing enormous challenges as they grow up – struggling public schools, increasing shares of public debt, rising education costs and student loan debt, and increasing distrust between police and the communities they serve. We owe it to them to take the time to engage on these and other pressing issues (and to build sandcastles too). If enough of us start pushing these boulders upward, some of them will eventually roll over the hill. Let’s start the climb this Labor Day.”

November 11, 2015

Quoting Teddy Roosevelt on generational justice:

“Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us.”

December 17, 2015

Arguing that the 2040 Matters community should support Presidential candidates committed to repairing both aspects of the American Dream:

“Although it may be tempting to back a candidate based on momentum, edgy debate performances, or a position on a single issue, I would encourage you to dig a little deeper before making up your mind.  Similarly, if you are a frustrated voter who would like to use this election cycle to “send a message,” I would encourage you to think carefully about what message you would like to send, and the best way to convey that message with your vote.   By sending a Mr. Smith or Don Quixote to the White House, the only message voters would be sending is that they prefer one type of utter dysfunction to another.”

Federal Budget

September 16, 2015

Highlighting the hypocrisy of Congressional fights over the debt ceiling:

“We have a problem with “red lines” in this Country. In foreign policy, we set them, but then do nothing when they are crossed. But at least the Executive Branch doesn’t set the line and then do the crossing. Congress, of course, sets the debt limit, and then systematically sets out every year to spend far more money than it collects in taxes to ensure that the limit is crossed.”

September 22, 2015

Ridiculing the Congress for its annual ritual of threatening to shut down the government:

“It is abundantly clear that Congress cannot be embarrassed by its incompetence, irrelevance, or inaction. Instead, recent Congresses have seemed to celebrate the fact that they are the least productive in history.”

October 27, 2015

Noting that we cannot have blind faith in Congress:

“Trying to get Congress to do its job is more tiring than being the parent of a toddler, and more frustrating than herding cats.”