The Predicament How Did It Happen? How Bad Is It?: The Case for Radical Change Now!

by David L. Smith

In the three "Long Wars" during the past 47 years, we have witnessed the realization of President Eisenhower's warnings of "grave implications," "unwarranted influence" and "misplaced power" associated with the growing military-industrial complex and scientific-technological elite. The Big-Brother nightmare of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty Four" haunts the country. Since the Reagan presidency, wealth and income in the U.S. have become more concentrated than in any other advanced society, resulting in catastrophic financial instability and economic hardship in recent years. No longer the world's leading creditor, the U.S. has become the largest debtor nation. Younger generations have been afflicted with sub-standard public-school education, expensive college tuition, crushing college loans, dismal job prospects, low pay, high youth unemployment. Rich folks in the senior generations are living large and sending the younger generations the bill. Internationally the U.S. is engaged in shooting wars with adversaries still bearing grudges from the Arab Empire, the Crusades and the Ottoman Empire, risking irreversible escalation of conflict. The electorate and, therefore, the U.S. government has grown so polarized as to be incapable of effectively addressing these crises. These are all aspects of what author David L. Smith calls The Predicament.

In his book, "The Predicament," Mr. Smith reveals how these conditions emerged from the relatively balanced and prosperous Eisenhower years. He reveals "where the bodies are buried" and makes the case for a radical change of direction to avoid further economic, financial and social deterioration; to restore the solvency, prosperity and contentment of the middle class; and to relieve the plight of the poor.

Identifying the root cause of The Predicament as the hijacking of the democratic political process by a rich and powerful elite, Mr. Smith proposes a completely new democratic political process to bypass Big Money and return the government to the service of We The People.

To further advance the case for a reversal of the political pendulum from its extreme rightward displacement, Mr. Smith offers an autobiographical addendum revealing his own conversion from William F. Buckley, Jr. conservative to radical American liberal, impelled by his experiences as a U.S. Naval officer serving with the Marines in Vietnam and by the excesses of the Reagan Revolution and its economic underpinnings in "supply-side" theory, otherwise known as Reaganomics.

His understanding of the folly of Reaganomics stems from a quarter century as a newsletter writer and public speaker, chronicling, analyzing and forecasting economic and financial events with what has been described as "uncanny accuracy." He also wrote a newsletter, and continues to write a blog, The Cassandra Chronicles, commenting on geopolitical and other political issues of moment.

The book is addressed and dedicated to members of the Millennial Generation, who bear the brunt of inequities wrought by the present system, and who will have to extricate themselves from The Predicament, since few within the older generations seem inclined to. Hopefully conscience-driven members of senior generations will be inspired to pitch in.

184 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2012

Reviews

[David Laing · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. Sobering. Thought-provoking. Insightful. Authoritative. A must read. Smith skillfully shows how we who are so reluctant to study history are being compelled to repeat it to our detriment and peril. He documents our transition from the Great Society of the postwar years to the Reagan-Bush era policies of deregulation and supply-side economics, which have proven so profitable to the moneyed elite and so devastating to the American middle class. He also points out how the impending iteration of the global war that inexorably ends the repeating cycle will be uncommonly intransigent due to its ideological component in which the Christian West is pitted against the Muslim Middle East. Smith's prediction for our future is dire, yet his prescription for redemption through education gives hope. The Predicament is unquestionably one of the ten most important books I have ever read.