The advisors to President Obama once again prove that they are intent on measuring what doesn't count. I say the "advisors" because I cannot believe a person as savvied and dedicated to global unity as our president, the person for whom my whole family voted, would use such exceptionalism laden words at a University event.
President Obama, at the University of Texas, yesterday, called for the nation to
"lead the world in college graduation".
This seems to me selective, shallow and convenient exceptionalism, at best; a patriotic stimulant to achieve intellectual nothingness
Besides the fact that the number of people graduating is a meaningless metric of quality output, if we must be exceptional, then why not lead by example and urge the Country instead, to "lead the world" in (and measure):
- health care for all of our society
- free and accessible College study for all memmbers of our society
- commitment to peace by stopping military aid to various puppet nations we support.
- commitment to peace by closing all of our military bases which occupy foreign nations
- commitment to peace by no longer engaging in wars/invasions/missions, of occupation
- becoming the leader in true nature conservancy and pollution free environments
- not controlling/spinning/ media and truly supporting free speech and peaceful petition
- admitting that there no such thing as "clean coal"
- arresting our own war criminals, even if they are rich, government dignitaries
- arresting corporate thieves and economic criminals, even if they are mostly white, well connected, powerful and have sacks 'o gold at their disposal
- admitting that even our forefathers were "illegal immigrants", hence we all are!
- closing torture-based establishments that are uncivilized emblems of all that is counter to the Constitution of the Land
- stopping the obsequious and incestuos relationships with the self serving lobby army of pharmaceuticals, insurers, banking empires, corporate oil barons, arms contractors etc, which drain the economy and which are the causal connectors attached to our nation's current apocalyptic mess
When some day we muster up the humility and courage to want to measure the indicators above, then perhaps we will be in a position to measure what counts.
Because what we are currently counting measures only one thing: exceptional GREED.
