WAR IN IRAQ, TERRORISM, THE ECONOMY, AND THE NATIONAL PSYCHE

The United States is rushing towards war, the threat of retaliatory terrorism is of increasing concern, the economy is mired in uncertainty and inability to escape the doldrums. The consequences for the American people may, in the long run, be the greatest peril of all. There are three interrelated facets of this concern.

First, we may grow to no longer perceive ourselves as America the Good. We have always assumed that any past bad behavior as a country was an anomaly, an aberration that the majority of Americans and our leaders continually worked to correct. That would apply to our assault on American Indians and their cultures, slavery, denial of the vote to women and blacks, and to the decimation of two symbols that have graced our coins, the buffalo and the eagle. In general, that self perception was justified. Now, as America has assumed the role of the only super power and made it clear we intend to assert that power as we see fit to further our own interests regardless of the views of others, much of the world perceives us as arrogant, greedy, mean tempered, and totally self focused. No longer are we viewed as a nation determined to lead in bringing a better life not only to the almost 300 million people within our borders, but also to billions of others around the world.

A war in Iraq engineered by the Untied States, without overwhelming international support, that results in the deaths of substantial numbers of civilians, together with our behavior in regard to a variety of other issues (the environment, for example), could well persuade tens of millions of Americans that the global perception of the United States is correct, that we have lost our way, that we are no longer America the Good.

Second, if war with Iraq results in increased terrorist activity against Americans and American interests abroad and some terrorist attacks within the United States, that, together with loss of belief that we are America the Good, is likely to persuade large numbers of young people that we are spiraling out of control, and that we are being overwhelmed by problems and issues we have lost the ability to control and solve. That, in turn, could cause a loss of faith in the future in which case young (and even middle-aged) people will almost certainly turn to a focus on today (not tomorrow) manifested, in part, by much greater use of legal and illegal pleasure giving drugs. Loss of a belief in America's visions, plus loss of faith in the future adds up to a profound increase in the severity of the drug scene.

Third, the psychological turmoil created by all the above - a feeling we are not any longer America the Good, fear of terrorism, a conviction we have lost our way, loss of confidence in the future - plus an economy in the doldrums could lead to a national epidemic of depression. Only the determinedly obtuse could miss the already obvious danger signs - the increasing number of people who say they are depressed about the world and the American situations. That trauma to the American psyche, currently well under way, could have disastrous consequences. Of course, pharmaceutical companies that sell tranquilizers, sedatives, and mood elevators will prosper; so will complementary and alternative medicine entrepreneurs who purvey their equivalents of those prescription drugs.

What can we do about all this before it envelops us? The choice is clear. We have to insist that our current leaders, or more likely new ones we will have the opportunity to choose in coming elections, give us back our values, our vision, and return us, as a nation, to America the Good.