I watched the inauguration today, and it made me glad to be an American.
It's easy to neglect the tremendous blessing of a government--and the cultural milieu that produces that government--with relatively robust accountability, competency, and integrity. We're not without our problems, but a bit of perspective is in order...
My father has travelled all around the world for his business endeavors, and I've heard stories of the way things are run elsewhere. He was in Bogota, Columbia in late 1993, when the country essentially had martial law declared, complete with tanks patroling the streets, stemming from the unrest over the fugitive drug lord
Pablo Escobar, estimated at one point to be the world's seventh-richest man, whose cartel contolled 80% of the cocaine market. Escobar had bribed and shot he way to the top, paying off officials and probably influencing changes in the Colombian constitution to prevent extradition while running his cartel from prison. He is estimated to be responsible for four thousand murders, but the poor of Colombia loved him for his lavish donations and construction projects in destitute communities. After his escape from prison, several groups including elite Columbia police squads, trained by American Special Forces, and vigilante groups, funded by rival drug cartels and rebel para-government factions, sought Escobar's death. A semblance of order resumed after he was gunned down on the rooftops of Medellin, Cololmbia, but this only allowed the rival Cali cartel to wrest control of the cocaine market, until it, too, was broken by the Colombian government in the mid-1990's.
Elsewhere:
Sorry to end on a downer. More thoughts tomorrow, but right now I am going to sleep.
