I report, he decides

The problem of outsourcing strategic materials to foreign companies should be obvious. Back in 1987, Toshiba betrayed us by selling nuclear submarine propeller secrets the Reagan administration had entrusted them with to the Soviets, thus compromising the cornerstone of our nuclear deterrent.  Why you ask would we take such a horrible risk with the most sensitive strategic information we possessed?  I don’t have an answer, but apparently this Republican sort of thing is OK by Bush who is expected to announce today his approval of a deal under which a Dubai-owned company would take control of nine plants in the United States that manufacture parts for American military vehicles and aircraft.

But he’s the decider, and there’s no better way to prove that one is the decider than to decide things that will outrage those who thought they were the deciders.  By those I mean the citizens of the United States.  Perhaps the risk to national security is small, but the perceived risk of having our military capabilities influenced by foreign interests seems quite foolish and is quite disturbing if one buys into the sort of arguments that underlie the Patriot Act.  Is it that Bush doesn’t think we’re really in danger, or would he prefer to make us weaker so that he can appear stronger – or is it just another under the table, quid pro quo deal to enrich himself and his friends?

The decider has decided that he doesn’t care what anyone thinks. It’s hard to be a real decider if one takes reality into account and being a real decider is the pose he needs to hide his wounded, humiliated and fearful little ego.  All this has been apparent for a long time and but for the neo-royalist patriotism and party chauvinism that plagues our nation we would all have decided to dump the decider long ago.