There are actions by our current government that I have trouble fitting into a coherent structure of policy. Some ideas make sense to me, whether they are deliberate or the by-product of the administration's world-view. One idea I believe is that this administration is pushing massive deficits because eventually that will make it possible to cut social programs. Politicians don't want to be seen as the ones cutting back social programs but if they have no choice because there is no money, well, it will just have to be done.

An idea occured to me (and I'm probably not the first) about the government's almost supernatural ability to incite hatred of the US around the world: The government is trying to temper the general US population. I mean like tempering steel to make it stronger. The idea is that the incredible mess that is our so-called foreign policy is designed to stir up anti-American feelings and actions. That whole "adversity makes us stronger" shtick seems to work very well on a portion of the US population. If there are more attacks on US targets, so much the better. Then the US citizens will see the righteousness of US military retaliation, the appeal of "patriotism" will be stronger, dissent will be shouted down, and might will be right.

More and more I feel trapped in a living version of Orwell's 1984. If you raise your voice in protest but no one can hear, did you really speak?

These rambling thoughts were sparked by this article speaking about some of the current "blowback" from US actions abroad.