A police chief is quoted, that the U.S. crime surge is an “economic and social” problem: “We seem to be dealing with an awful lot of people who have zero conflict-resolution skills.” (“Violent Crime in Cities Shows Sharp Surge,” The New York Times (9 March 2007).

Not surprising. The entire country, under Bush-Cheney and the neo-cons, has zero conflict-resolution skills. The Iraq invasion and the war threats against Korea and Iran, to name the highlights, have set a tone and provided horrendous examples of how (not) to deal with conflict.

Our children learn from what they observe their leaders doing. Add to this the despair of poverty, the lure of drugs, and the cheerleading of the NRA and some media, and we have the recipe for exactly the kind of social disintegration the police chiefs are having to deal with.

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Addenda:

After Karl Rove “rejected the suggestion that future presidents might be deterred from the Bush doctrine by the enduring violence and unintended consequences let loose by the invasion of Iraq,” Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser in the Carter administration, said the next President “will have to make serious readjustments with rationality.” [“Rove Doing His Part to Help Shape a Positive Legacy for Bush“The Washington Post (9 March 2007)]

This one says it all:

Gen. Tony McPeak (retired), Member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War: “This is a dark chapter in our history. Whatever else happens, our country’s international standing has been frittered away by people who don’t have the foggiest understanding of how the hell the world works. America has been conducting an experiment for the past six years, trying to validate the proposition that it really doesn’t make any difference who you elect president. Now we know the result of that experiment [laughs]. If a guy is stupid, it makes a big difference.” [“Beyond Quagmire,” Rolling Stone (7 March 2007)]