Analogies and The Language of Economic Crisis

Tonight, Chuck Todd perpetuated a practice that many in Washington and journalist all over this country have engaged in that I would like to see stopped. He referred to our efforts to emerge from this recession as a war. It has also seemed that the Obama Administration has also been forced into using this language as well--I have heard Christina Romer and others make use and agree to use this analogy on the political show circuit. The war analogy is wrong. Firstly, when you fight against something, you only strengthen it. Many have pointed out,and the history of this country reflects that the countless wars that this country has engaged in have for the most part failed. Vietnam, the war on drugs, the war on poverty...all of these have failed--and failed because those in power have engaged these problems in the wrong way. When I first heard the Obama administration announce its plan, they were making use of Dr. King's analogy of the house that is on fire. I believe this is the proper approach they should be taking and I believe they should not be persuaded from using this analogy. I pointed this out when they first laid out their plans for economic recovery. America does not need to engage in another ceaseless war that in the end will only serve to disintegrate this country even more. We need to shake off the shackles of patriarchy and phallocentrism(which is where this language comes from) and embrace a more humane way of living and being in this world. Only then, will the United States be secured against the total ruin that it now faces.