Safe Democracy Foundation - Safe Democracy

Robert J. Samuelson
9/13/2010

The question of just why and how Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail remains unanswered two years after the financial institution’s collapse. Lehman’s failure had profoundly negative consequences, such as tighter credit and higher unemployment rates. Its collapse gave the impression that the government had lost control. The ensuing panic might have been avoided had the government bailed out Lehman. Alternatively, such a rescue might merely have delayed an inevitable crisis. History has yet to answer this question accurately.

Samuelson is a weekly columnist for The Post, writing on political, economic and social issues.

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Charles Krauthammer
9/10/2010

The Obama administration has wisely designed upcoming talks with Palestine and Israel to deal directly with the real issues in the region. Likud Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is prepared to give up the West Bank, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is prepared to give up his home in exchange for a real offer of peace from the Palestinians. The problem is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ refusal to accept the existence of a Jewish state. Abbas will refuse to participate in the talks at all unless the settlement freeze, imposed by Obama, is not renewed on September 26. A reason not to participate in the negotiations would actually work in Abbas’ favor. If he is not present, he can not agree to any concessions. Abbas knows how to undermine even the most well-designed negotiations.

Krauthammer is a weekly columnist for The Post, writing on foreign and domestic policy and politics.

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Bill McKibben
9/10/2010

President Carter installed solar panels on the White House roof in June of 1979, invoking both their enormous potential and the risk of irrelevance. Unfortunately, the latter appears to have been the case in the United States. The panels were removed during the Reagan administration and less than one percent of American homes have solar heated water. In contrast, China leads the world in solar technology with 250 million homes utilizing the panels.

McKibben, founder of the global warming campaign 350.org, is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College in Vermont and the author of “Earth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.”

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David Brooks
9/10/2010

Brooks says the notion that America is in decline is debatable, but it is undergoing changes that are structural, not cyclical. Our best talent is entering the helping or consulting fields, which are less prosperous. Yet there is also a shortage of mechanics and other skilled workers because the middle class saw their way into affluence by leaving the working class trades. And the lower classes are plagued with social breakdown, which results in wasted human capital. Brooks says short-term stimulus is a distraction. The real issue is gentility shift and whether we can address it.

Brooks is a New York Times columnist.

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Nicholas D. Kristof
9/9/2010

A Jewish woman who lost her husband in the September 11 attacks is planning to speak at mosques in order to recruit members to join her in her battle against poverty and illiteracy in Afghanistan. Kristof looks at how Susan Retik and her partner, another widow from September 11, started a nonprofit called Beyond the 11th to do so, and he reviews many of the organization’s initiatives. Although education and employment are not panaceas, they do chip away at fundamentalism over time, and the work offers an antidote to anti-Islamic hysteria on this anniversary of 9/11.

Kristof is a New York Times columnist.

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William B. Caldwell
9/9/2010

As thousands of Afghans train, fight, and die for their nation, working and fighting to make a better future, we should give them the tools, hope, and respect to chart a new and better path for their people. Toward that end, the NATO training mission has about 27,000 recruits from the Afghan army and police in mandatory literacy programs at any given time. That number will grow to 50,000 by this December and to about 100,000 by June of next year. Afghan soldiers and police are plenty intelligent, and literacy will help them become a modern force.

Lt. Gen. Caldwell is commander of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan.

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