Statesman vs politicians

Here are six current serious issues, if not pressing crises, that confront America today:

Global warming – the scientific evidence is overwhelming that human activity is producing a massive and rapid worldwide climate change that will in the next few decades displace hundreds of millions of people and probably eventually starve billions.

Medicare/Social Security – the actuarial evidence is overwhelming that these two programs, as currently constituted, will in the next few decades cost more than our economy and tax structure can possibly bear, so that we will eventually have to massively reduce benefits to our older citizens.

Nuclear proliferation – the world, and particularly parts of the old Soviet empire, is awash in poorly protected nuclear materials that can be used by any of the thousands of terrorist or nationalist groups to assemble an unsophisticated yet still devastating nuclear weapon and detonate it in any major city of the world.

Petroleum products – the evidence strongly suggests that we are currently pumping about as much oil and natural gas worldwide as we ever will, even though demand will continue to increase massively over the next few decades. As a result the price of oil and natural gas, upon which the first world economy and food supply depends, will almost certainly continue to rise steadily over the next few decades.

Pandemics – Although avian flu is getting most of the current attention here, the problem is wider than that. Modern high speed worldwide transportation has made it possible for any new highly infection disease (and new ones will appear from time to time) to spread globally within days, far faster than our current medical infrastructure can adapt to it.

Demographics – many of the European and Asian developed and developing nations now have reproductive rates that have dropped below replacement level, so that some countries, like Russia and Japan, will be heavily depopulated in the next few decades, disrupting their economies and societies and therefore probably ours as well.

Now think about your favorite political office holders or candidates for Congress or the presidency, of either party. How many of these issues do they even mention in their speeches? How many do they take seriously enough to sponsor legislation about them? For how many of them do they seem to have any effective suggestions, as opposed to vague promises?

Politicians attend to what gets votes. Statesmen attend to what needs to be done for their country. Have you seen any statesmen lately in either political party?