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Let's Face It: The Warfare State Is Part of Us
The USA's military spending is now close to $2 billion a day. This fall, the country will begin its seventh year of continuous war, with no end in sight. On the horizon is the very real threat of a massive air assault on Iran. And few in Congress seem willing or able to articulate a rejection of the warfare state.
While the Bush-Cheney administration is the most dangerous of our lifetimes -- and ousting Republicans from the White House is imperative -- such truths are apt to smooth the way for progressive evasions. We hear that "the people must take back the government," but how can "the people" take back what they never really had? And when rhetoric calls for "returning to a foreign policy based on human rights and democracy," we're encouraged to be nostalgic for good old days that never existed.
The warfare state didn't suddenly arrive in 2001, and it won't disappear when the current lunatic in the Oval Office moves on.
Born 50 years before George W. Bush became president, I have always lived in a warfare state. Each man in the Oval Office has presided over an arsenal of weapons designed to destroy human life en masse. In recent decades, our self-proclaimed protectors have been able -- and willing -- to destroy all of humanity.
We've accommodated ourselves to this insanity. And I do mean "we" -- including those of us who fret aloud that the impact of our peace-loving wisdom is circumscribed because our voices don't carry much farther than the choir. We may carry around an inflated sense of our own resistance to a system that is poised to incinerate and irradiate the planet.
Maybe it's too unpleasant to acknowledge that we've been living in a warfare state for so long. And maybe it's even more unpleasant to acknowledge that the warfare state is not just "out there." It's also internalized; at least to the extent that we pass up countless opportunities to resist it.
Like millions of other young Americans, I grew into awakening as the Vietnam War escalated. Slogans like "make love, not war" -- and, a bit later, "the personal is political" -- really spoke to us. But over the decades we generally learned, or relearned, to compartmentalize: as if personal and national histories weren't interwoven in our pasts, presents and futures.
One day in 1969, a biologist named George Wald, who had won a Nobel Prize, visited the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- the biggest military contractor in academia -- and gave a speech. "Our government has become preoccupied with death," he said, "with the business of killing and being killed."
That preoccupation has fluctuated, but in essence it has persisted. While speaking of a far-off war and a nuclear arsenal certain to remain in place after the war's end, Wald pointed out: "We are under repeated pressure to accept things that are presented to us as settled -- decisions that have been made."
Today, in similar ways, our government is preoccupied and we are pressurized. The grisly commerce of killing -- whether through carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan or through the deadly shredding of social safety-nets at home -- thrives on aggressive war and on the perverse realpolitik of "national security" that brandishes the Pentagon's weaponry against the world. At least tacitly, we accept so much that threatens to destroy anything and everything.
As it happened, for reasons both "personal" and "political" -- more accurately, for reasons indistinguishable between the two -- my own life fell apart and began to reassemble itself during the same season of 1969 when George Wald gave his speech, which he called "A Generation in Search of a Future."
Political and personal histories are usually kept separate -- in how we're taught, how we speak and even how we think. But I've become very skeptical of the categories. They may not be much more than illusions we've been conned into going through the motions of believing.
We actually live in concentric spheres, and "politics" suffuses households as well as what Martin Luther King Jr. called "The World House." Under that heading, he wrote in 1967: "When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men. When we foolishly minimize the internal of our lives and maximize the external, we sign the warrant for our own day of doom. Our hope for creative living in this world house that we have inherited lies in our ability to re-establish the moral ends of our lives in personal character and social justice. Without this spiritual and moral reawakening we shall destroy ourselves in the misuse of our own instruments."
While trying to understand the essence of what so many Americans have witnessed over the last half century, I worked on a book (titled "Made Love, Got War") that sifts through the last 50 years of the warfare state... and, in the process, through my own life. I haven't learned as much as I would have liked, but some patterns emerged -- persistent and pervasive since the middle of the 20th century.
The warfare state doesn't come and go. It can't be defeated on Election Day. Like it or not, it's at the core of the United States -- and it has infiltrated our very being.
What we've tolerated has become part of us. What we accept, however reluctantly, seeps inward. In the long run, passivity can easily ratify even what we may condemn. And meanwhile, in the words of Thomas Merton, "It is the sane ones, the well-adapted ones, who can without qualms and without nausea aim the missiles and press the buttons that will initiate the great festival of destruction that they, the sane ones, have prepared."
The triumph of the warfare state degrades and suppresses us all. Even before the weapons perform as guaranteed.
Norman Solomon's book "Made Love, Got War: Close Encounters with America's Warfare State" will be published in early fall. The foreword is by Daniel Ellsberg. For more information, go to: www.MadeLoveGotWar.com.
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Show AllAnd yet Solomon endorsed the pro-war John Kerry in 2004 instead of fighting for Nader (or an election boycott--which is *better* than supporting the Democrats).
Perhaps 1975-76 was a turning point in a switch from a more CFR, multilateralist fo. po. to a more American Security Council, Committee On the Present Danger unilateralist approach. Yes I am naming names of organizations here. Does this make it automatically "conspiracy theory". Well perhaps, depending on whether these organizations are put into HISTORICAL CONTEXT or not.
I think Peter Dale Scott's new book The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire and the Future of America does a great job of giving a conceptual overview of this change, while also supplying the historical context to make it quite persuasive for those who are historically inclined. Its just been published by U of Cali press.
The problem is that the planners of the US economy understand that massive government spending is necessary to prevent depressions. That was the lesson of the Great Depression of the 1930s. But they do not want the money to be spent democratically, on things like public transportation, education, daycare, health-care and civilian scientific research. That kind of spending empowers the population and creates an egalitarian democratic society - the kind of society in which the masses vote and otherwise participate in politics and the Republican Party could never, ever be elected. Naturally that is unacceptable to the oligarchy. But at the same time, they recognize that a modern capitalist economy can only function if the government regularly pumps huge amounts of money into it on a regular basis. So they were in a quandry: what to do? Military spending is the compromise solution they came up with. The solution? Simple: continue spending the same amount of money, but reverse the priorities: spend 550 million dollars a year on public transportation, education (including free university tuition for all), public healthcare and other public functions. 50 billion should be enough to pay for a US Defence Force that will be adequately equipped to patrol the USA's borders, territorial waters and airspace plus maintaining a small nuclear deterrent (in case the president of Syria or Belarus gets ideas about "regime change" in Washington :) ). If the Democratic Party promised to do all that, it would win easily. So why don't they do it? Probably because most Democratic Party leaders are themselves wealthy and privileged and do personally benefit from Republican rule. Since the Democratic Party does not want to win, maybe it's time for a new opposition party in the USA - one that wants to take power.
Mark Marshall
Toronto
i think solomon was mistaken in '04 supporting kerry, and his comments about "getting rid of republicans" in '08 is in the same vein. if the war state is so deeply entrenched (and it is), why support dems?
the $2 billion a day thing is also a low estimate, probably derived from direct DOD expenses plus direct war costs. i don't think it includes the VA, the dept of energy (the nukular stuff), and other stuff like debt and its interest accumulating. the real expense of our warfare start is more like 3 plus billion a day, and growing.
i've asked this before here at CD, and gotten no honest answers. people are looking for ways to effect changes; protests don't mean shit, neither does petitioning congress. voting is next to useless. people have suggested a work stoppage; i think that's a great idea. but why pay taxes?
the overwhelming majority of posters/readers at CD are looking for ways to non-violently resist the war machine, myself included. i think taking away your labor and wealth is the only thing that works.
stop work
stop paying taxes
Since WWII every American President has initiated/perpetuated a war or a multi-day military strike.
No other country on the globe has this record.
"The Warfare State Is Part of Us," well duh.
This is an excellent point:
"And when rhetoric calls for 'returning to a foreign policy based on human rights and democracy,' we're encouraged to be nostalgic for good old days that never existed."
Overall, this is a spiritual essay by Solomon, something you might hear from the pulpit on the dais. Not much to say but to nod the head in agreement.
Yet another aspect of our society that could be affected by the National initiative for Democracy proposed by Gravel through which the public could legislate directly to pull the plug on the military-industrial complex.
Correction: in my last posting, when I mentioned "550 million dollars", of course I meant to say "550 billion dollars".
Mark Marshall
Toronto
Solomon provides another reminder of how the US society/culture and political/economic system are corrupt and rotten to the bone. Having been rewarded too handsomely through genocide and slavery in the first centuries, and then through imperialism and exploitation of the weak in later centuries, an American character flawed in unprecedented and astronomical proportions has formed, with American commoners electing American leaders willing to threaten and risk thermonuclear war and human extinction in order to increase their already grossly unfair share of the pie, and in order to accelerate environmental degradation and resource depletion.
The US obsession with militarism, consumerism, religion, sex, and the accumulation of wealth and resources is part of a primitive self-destructive culture/society that emphasizes the gratification of impulses and endangers the entire human race and virtually all other species on the earth's surface. Americans are the least likely to find pleasure in more cultured pursuits such as philosophy, mathematics, science, and the arts, though they often use the arts as cover for sexual obsessions.
We Americans need humility even more than culture, and we need to pass on knowledge of our defects to lessen the probability and extent that our fellow Americans will try to control the inhabitants of other parts of the world in the future.
As I just stated elsewhere:
Let's face it - we are a one party government (GOPocrats/Dempublicans) bought and paid for by corporations especially the defense establishment.
Even greater profits will be there when we bomb Iran and create a need for even more weaponry to be sold.
(He'll probably vote for Clinton, too.)
When trying to explain the warfare state to people who don't yet grasp the idea, I always think a good place to start is with the "attacks" of 9/11, where government lying is so evident and provable and government involvement is so probable. From there one can move forward to the falseness of the "war on terror" and the wrongness of attacking Iran, and backward to the Kennedy assassination and the foundations of the national security state. Stating the truth of 9/11 is especially pertinent, also, since hardly a day goes by without Bush or Cheney themselves using "since 9/11..." as a rationale for one or another horrible project.
MarkMarshal:
Excellent analysis. The current war crimes in Iraq are part of a larger pattern of class warfare. Someone asked me recently about impeaching Bush (and Cheney as well) and I replied, "Why would Congress impeach the CEO of their economic class". And of course we know that Congress is wallowing in a pig pen of military industrial campaign donations, lobbyist activities and other perks. I have often wondered what we might find in the way of conflict of interest investments in war or oil related corporations held by members of Congress. Buy the stock low and legislate for personal profit at the taxpayer's expense. We know that nearly everyone in the White House has war and oil related financial interests.
One liner: Checks and balances in Washington now mean that the insiders get checks and no one balances the budget ?
Or: Public debt for private profit !
The war machine essentially transfers wealth from the many to the few. Even if the corporate fascists gain some type of messy imperial control over Iraq's oil, they have spent far more than the prize is worth. And as occupiers they will have to guard the pipelines forever. I had an uncle who got rich doing business in the Middle East, and way back in 1969 he told me, "The big money in the Middle East is in weapons and not oil". Maybe I should have taken him up on a job offer as I am broke after pursuing honest occupations.
We only get 20 percent of our oil from the Middle East so why are they spending about $70 Billion a year for our "normal" military presence in the region and $Billions more every week in the Iraq quagmire ? Perhaps the simple answer it that the policy makers are incestuously involved with both the oil industry and the military corporate sectors, which now includes well-paid Blackwater Christian mercenaries.
But, it is entirely possible to change the direction of spending now centered on supporting various military welfare programs (such as generals who like to golf and fly around in private jets...etc.) including both the enlisted armed services and, private contractors and the good old military industrial complex. But these parasites are deeply entrenched and who has the will and integrity to purge the system ? Yet something has to give financially as they are funding the current waste with credit card type deficit spending.
In the end we need to diversify the cash flow and get more federal money into beneficial programs. In some ways, what is happening now is like the Spanish colonial economic lust for gold. The Spanish upper class put way too much emphasis on one commodity and neglected the rest of their economy.
But as we engage in our rational discussions it is entirely possible that we are not dealing with mentally healthy people in Washington.
Ha, you all read as if there is a solution to retrofitting the American unsustainable machine that profits from Arm Sales, Drug Laundering, exploiting the third world ect. That is insane to me.
The only thing you can do is get on board a permaculture, a sustainable retreat, far away from suburbia.
Sit out the time line of peak oil, let nature readjust the arrogance and ego minded humanity within natural patterns in time. 2012 the tipping point. Get fucking ready!!!!!!!!!
Permaculture is an evolving regenerative design science using the latest hybrid energy solutions to empower villages.
"To replace nation states with a million villages is the only way to preserve the biosphere" Bill Mollison, founder Permaculture.
THis is our time to get in on the energy market. I know that Venture Capital is bringing to the table 80-20 profit splits with inventors, and this is creating the vacuum for carbon sequestration fuels, Algae bio-diesel.
Next week begins the Super Bowl of turning points. 40,000 people will gather to unite seeking affinity that has never been seen on this planet. Its called Burningman. I know that what you hear is the extreme eccentric, but I assure you this is a network of people looking to make a paradigm shift. I am showing my film on the Calendar Green Guide,
Who is going to lead and get ready to tell the American people that we need a migration to a sustainable retreat? I really do not think any of you are going to acknowledge this realty check. I guess this is the revolution, huh? And the pathway to peace, see in the film www.ecosutra.com how Israel, Palestine and the other regions are networking with permaculture, and seeing an abundant future greening deserts. Film will coming September 1.
How will you tell suburbia that in order to prepare for the changes of peak oil and our human and energy consumption solutions they must network local gardens and harvest rain water? The Georgia mountain water shed is the greatest national resource conflict in the country with Florida and Alabama competing for the water. Do you even know what the rule is on harvesting rain water in your area? I know its illegal in Colorado and California. Grey water systems are illegal in every state. Most of the solutions are against regulations. The system of mortgage is a system of slavery. I know it. I really do not care if you know it. Uranium is a depleted resource as well, and anyone putting Nuclear into their future has other motivations.
I don't know if the film I have made is going to be the catalyst for the revolution to build a model or a sustainable retreat somewhere in this land. I have the Baja to network for an ex patriot expedition for a new Energy Production Park. Thats the ideal land for the technology anyway. So you see, we need people to cross the border to build the bridges off fossil fuels. I know I can start up with at least 4000 people coming together to showcase an eco settlement. I have networked the leaders, some of whom are in 11th Hour.
There are companies that network into the retrofitting of buildings into LEED green buildings. This is just making the movement expensive to get sustainable. I am coming from a place where my dome and straw bale stucco style dwelling will only cost $2000 dollars to build and my friends help make them. This is the mission or the turning point initiative people are now seeking to become part of, through intact communities to prepare for natures unplugging. Ecosutra is a network of people who can build the new hybrid energy systems that I have posted in my website. (Algae Bio Diesel)
I am using all my resources from my fathers music, TWIST AND SHOUT- The Beetles, ect., to build and be part of an international solar thermal hydrogen park with a spa, ice rink, from solar desalination on the Baja Ca Coast. We will green the deserts. I will develop an intact community of new world designs. Sea Water Greenhouses, Genova- olive pits into energy compactor, mobile and light weight. So many technologies not enough time to tell. See the best in the movie.
Welcome to The Machine.
The Myths of World War II by Sean Gonsalves Published on Monday, August 13, 2007 common dreams
good reading. no... we are not dealing 'with mentally healthy people', but just because we have been 'at war' since forever, this does not mean we can not change. must change.
Kucinich is the only one running who is unalterably opposed to war. He wants to create a new cabinet position for peace. He is the only one who consistently stands up against the warfare state. Yes, as some say, (including me) he looks like an elf, but after much reading I have come to the conclusion that I will vote for the "elf". Vote Kucinich and change the path we are on!
Kucinich is a sellout. In 2004 he dropped his pledge to fight for an antiwar plank in the party platform and endorsed a pro-war candidate. With all due respect to the *honest* people who genuinely want an end to war: don't waste your time on Kucinich. He's part of a pro-war corporate party and is *incapable* of changing the system that he is a part of.
http://www.isreview.org/issues/37/kerry_bagman.shtml
This war is my war. Every time I spend a dollar or pay a tax or use the highway I compound my complicity.
Thanks, Norman. kivals, I enjoy and learn from your comments. Thanks.
A nation of self-haters so wrought with guilt about our own truths that we beat the living sh*t out of anyone who doesn't agree America is Number One because we're "good" damnit. Sometimes we have to hammer a little pipsqueak just to remind the "others" which country God blesses.
What's the other option - looking the rest of the world in the eye and saying, "Oops?" Now that's downright America-hatin' talk right there...
Ecosutra's comments are excellent and worth re-reading. Imagine how fast we'd have a complete renewable-powered economy if we spent that $2 billion per day on solar electricity from sunlight, wind power from turbines, and on transitioning to sustainable fossil-fuel free agricultural systems.
People need to speak up and put their individual partisanship on hold. If a Republican supports true renewables, they should be welcomed.
Boycotting elections, on the other hand, is probably the stupidest thing one can do - but running for political office on a platform of renewables might be one of the smartest things motivated individuals can do - even if it's just your local city council.
By getting involved in local politics, you can have a powerful effect - you can get laws passed to force developers to include renewables and energy efficient design in new housing, you can get local transportation systems to switch away from diesel fuel and towards biofuels, or even better, wind and solar -powered electricity.
If you're a college student, you can get your university to stop participating in military research and to switch to renewable research.
Roll up your sleeves and go to work - don't wait for a shining politician on a white horse to ride up and save you - it's not going to happen.
Bless you, Norman Solomon. I must add that George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Dwight Eishenhower as well as many others here join me in this expression. Few other insights into the diastrous possession of America by the industrial-academic-military complex are so important to hammer across again and again! Given this fact of life in America I am shocked and dismayed by the shallow quality of many of the above comments. To fault you for voting for what politically seemed to you the best hope for keeping Bushite disaster at bay is not only political juvenelia, but is the sort of wailing and wallowing that again and again allows the Rightists to prevail. Bless you again for eloquence and sense and sanity in this supreme hour of need for the America we labored to give you!
Benjamin Franklin
The conservative fatalism promoted by Norman Solomon must be analysed and rejected as a plea to retain the status quo rule of the corporate elite, the capitalist ruling class. Nothing has changed so nothing can or will change.
Both Democratic and Republican parties, both financed by corporate capitalism, have fully supported the unending wars since WWII.
Millions of "us" realize that radical change is imperative.
Millions of Americans have rejected war in IRAQ, even BEFORE Iraq was invaded. Unlike the "us" that Mr. Solomon identifies, millions of Americans are frightened about GLOBAL WARMING. The infrastructure of the U.S. is in such neglect (due to the un-ending funding of miliarism and war-profiteering) is collapsing (Katrina, MN bridge, NYC pipes, etc.) MILLIONS of people have no health insurance, and are drowning in credit card debt.
DUMP THE DEMOCRATS!
UNITE INTO A NEW PARTY NOW!
We the people, opposed to the destruction of the planet and it's peoples, now atomized and powerless in "grass roots" and "special interest" groups, must unite our efforts and resources into a new party to replace the corrupt Democratic Party! A new party that rejects corporate funding in order to end the corporate plunder of the federal government.
A new party explicitly opposed to the Project for the New American Century. Opposed to unending war for profit and power. Cut the military budget by 50%, shut down the 700 military bases around the world. Re-instate taxes cut by Bush gang.
A new party that commits the entire resources of the country to end global warming, end imperialist wars, implements true non-profit universal health care. promotes mass transportation, develops renewable energy, and produces the essentials for human survival.
A new party that promotes an economy that works towards fulfilling the economic needs of all the people, not just to profit a tiny minority of super wealthy. No more people living on the streets! No more hospitalized people being dumped into the streets when they have no money or health insurance! (See the film SICKO)
A new party to unite all of the oppressed people of this country. A new party that cuts across all the false social and cultural divisions that keep us forever powerless (racial, ethnic, age, language, etc.). A new party to unite us against the unending destruction of peoples and planet.
A SOCIALIST PARTY to promote the end of gangster capitalism, run-amok capitalism, which is supported by both Democratic and Republican parties.
A new party to support the labor movement and all working people. We urge the labor movement to stop supporting the Democratic Party (already besotted by corporate money), and to focus its precious resources to fund a new national radio and television network. By being on the air 24 hours a day the labor movement can provide the latest news, information, education and current affairs analysis desperately needed by all working people. This effort, combined with the formation of the new party, will be a bold step towards reviving the organized labor movement.
For years we have listened to radio programs like DEMOCRACY NOW! that has discussed with numerous "grass roots" groups desperately struggling to make a positive change in society. Anti-war protest groups, civil rights groups, union struggles, affordable housing groups, teachers unions, health care access, seniors about Social Security, have involved millions of people. Now is the time to unite the energy and resources of the people into a new party.
The new party provides a means of uniting the "special interest" agendas of each group into the platform of the new party. The new party candidates, selected from the various individuals and groups, would become the candidates representing their cause and the new party. The new party will contest for office at every level of government in order to take power. The new party will provide the new leadership and new programs this country desperately needs.
There is still time before November 2008 elections to start this process. Even the announcement and preparation for a founding convention of such a new party will shock both Democrats and Republican incumbents. They will know that their days are numbered!
The needs of all previous "minority" and "special interests" people now become the platform of the new party representing the vast majority of people. Can the existing activists of so-called "minority" and "special interest" groups overcome their existing powerlessness, and link up with each other to start this new party?
This all-inclusive struggle will attract millions of atomized working people, often non-voters and uninvolved people, who have been atomized, exploited, brain-washed by corporate media and ultimately destroyed by gangster capitalism.
Jesus! This is news? Even Eisenhower warned against these folks. Until such time as Americans have the will and the courage to stand up to this cabal and bring them down by any means necessary, we're on a steaming locomotive headed off a cliff.
A new economic model? one based on democratic principles? What would this look like?
Perhaps soon, the Neocons will turn their WMD onto the American peace protesters/activists, to be labeled as 'domestic terrorists' or 'enemy combatant' by Bush.
Imagine then, no other nation will hate us for our freedom. Rather, nations around the world will laugh at us for what we call 'freedom,' which our government so dearly wants to export to other countries.
What a joke...
"We hear that "the people must take back the government," but how can "the people" take back what they never really had? And when rhetoric calls for "returning to a foreign policy based on human rights and democracy," we're encouraged to be nostalgic for good old days that never existed."
This is what's so exciting and intoxicating to me: through the act of impeachment We The People can in fact for the first time ever in the history on humankind acsend to the top of a democracy.
Through the act of impeachment the discussion needed to bring about a world view policy based on human rights and democracy can come into being!
Sure, we can head for hills or desert as Ecosutra advises, but why miss out on the greatest exploration of human exsistence and relation possible?
The yearly Gross Domestic Product of the US is what, around 13 trillion? The cost of the Iraq war has been projected to be around 1.5 trillion
over 8-10 years(?).
Once the honest human discussion (that Solomon helps with here) starts, all that Ecosutra discusses and so much more can be realized by humanity.
That discussion can be started with the Call To Impeach.
For the birth of We The People - Call To Impeach.
For the birth of a world view policy of human rights and democracy - Call To Impeach.
Dear Mr. Solomon, The beginning of our warfare state and economy can be found in the inception of the administration of President Truman, viz. the trashing of the U.S.A. - Soviet detante established at Yalta at Potsdam, the reestablishment of the draft, government loyalty oaths, the suppression of left political parties, the unrestrained proliferation of atomic weapons, the aggressive "containment" global strategy and the permanent diversion of a major portion of our revenues to war to pay for it. The rot at the center of our "republic" has been going on for a long time. Tony Vodvarka, Hartly DE
I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavour to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." Abraham Lincoln - 1865
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"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today." President Theodore Roosevelt - 1906
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"We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world — no longer a Government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men." : Woodrow Wilson - 1912
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"The lords of the financial war have put the planet under the scalpel of organized economic destruction. They attack the normative power of the States, challenge the sovereignty of the people, subvert democracy, wreak havoc on nature, destroy human beings and their freedoms. The liberalization of the economy, the "invisible hand" of the market, is their way of dealing with the universe; the maximalization of profit is the way it works. I call this practice and this cosmogony structural violence.
The order of the current world is not only murderous, it is also absurd. It kills, destroys, slaughters, but it does so for no other reason than the desire for maximum profit for some cosmocrats who are driven by an obsession for power and unlimited greed. …Bush, Sharon, Putin? Lackeys, henchmen…"
Jean Ziegler - author of "Empire of Shame"
http://www.counterpunch.org/accardo12202005.html
metroeloise, asked,
"A new economic model? one based on democratic principles? What would this look like?"
My short answer is:
The economic system with the greatest equality of wealth and income provides the strongest base for the highest level of democracy.
Tony Vodvarka, right on, brother!
Mr. Marshall, you said it well!
Jeremy Wells, I'm with you too! Let's start with the one day strike on Sept. 11, in a few more weeks. No work and no shopping.
Ecosutra, An excellent post! I like your ideas.
WorldCitizen, Very good. It's been going on far to long. Wake up, people of the world.
fpal August 22nd, 2007 1:59 pm
.
I don't recall Pres. Carter attacking anyone.
As I recall from Vico it is chaos that follows democracy. What a poor choice we have for the next persident. Remember, the lesser of two evils IS evil. I think I'll write in Gore and Kucinich.
Check out Mike Gravel
http://www.gravel2008.us/
Kucinich, while not a bad person, sold out the peace movement in the last presidential election, has not to my knowledge apologized for it, when he put Democratic party loyalty ahead of principles of peace and justice.
so it goes
www.NotOneMore.US
"Never in the history of mankind have so few owed so much to so many"
The 'internalized' part of the warfare state is how people in the U.S. celebrate militarism. All the time when the military is mentioned it is said that they are 'defending your freedom, defending the constitution' and all that. This is all a lot of crap.
Really why would you be proud to have a son or a family member in the army right now, fighting for corporate hacks ?
Cindy Sheehan's son got killed. Many others will see their sons coming back but they won't recognize them any more. They suffer from nightmares, psychosis, lose their social skills, and many end up on the street, alienated from society and from their own families. Why would you celebrate this ?
Would you rather have a child suffering from drug abuse or one that was stupid enough to volunteer in the army ?
In both cases, you can have people who are strong enough to overcome the problems associated with it, but in most cases it is just healthier to stay out altogether.
You must be a real loser if you believe all this chauvinistic macho propaganda and end up in the military. If you want to 'defend the constitution, defend freedom', you can better join a peace group or the Green Party or something. Those are the places where they need the really brave people.
What I don't get is that if America is in such love with militarism why did it go soft on Bush who apparently shirked his military responsibility and turned its back on and actually slandered Kerry who was a decorated war veteran? I guess Bush had God on his side.
Most americans have a fond view of President Harry Truman. He was a blunt, down to earth, midwesterner. He also permitted atomic bombs to be dropped on men, women and children who had nothing to do with starting or perpetuating world war II. Many were incinerated and others suffered for decades and their offspring carries the possility of birth defects. I guess to americans this was just collateral damage. Had a military target been chosen or had the bombs be dropped in an unoccupied area maybe that would have been more acceptable. They weren't. The war was over. Americans loved it. I don't think americans ever really faced the reality of what occurred in Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Yes, they were war weary but were these bombs necessary? I don't believe so but that is not the view of the myopic american public.
XYZ wrote: "What I don't get is that if America is in such love with militarism why did it go soft on Bush..."
America is not in love with militarism. America is a nation controlled by some insanely greedy bastards who are in love with militarism. They are masterful at the art of deception and have the nation believing that they live in a democratic republic when in truth, they live under the thumbs of a totalitarian regime.
The ruling elite work assiduously from behind the scenes, always cloaking their dark actions with fair words (upbeat assessments). They decide who will sit in the office of the president and who we will bomb. These horrible men are like cancerous tumors sucking the life force from healthy cells.
Thanks to them the economic & political systems in the USA are rotten to the core. The USA is like a huge ship held together with rotten wood.
It's only a matter of time before it sinks. Hopefully most of the dirty rats will drown. Things will get better, before they get too much worse.
Perhaps WW11 or Korea or Vietnam are viewed as the begginings of the Military Industrial Complex by Americans, but in the pre-WW11 world, American aggression and imperialism has been felt outside your borders since forever. If you lived in any raw matrerial rich country anywhere in the world you would (and you should) realize this. From interference in Latin American, Central American, Mexican and Canadian politics to out and out military attacks to support economic policy, to the theft of natural resources through military threats, to the support of "contras" and not just in Nicaragua, to the demonizing of foreign leaders not acceptable to the U.S.,etc. etc. ad nauseum, the U.S. has been a cruel, self-centered imperialistic force doing more harm than good. Perhaps this has not been noticed in within the borders of the bully boy but it sure has from without. You scare the shit out of us!
Dear xyz, Regarding Truman and the atom bombs, their use at the end of WWII were perhaps the opening shots of the Cold War, intended as a demonstration of our power to intimidate the Soviet Union, in the hope of renegociating the terms of the Yalta agreement. Stalin was reported to have said, "Fireworks to frighten children". More shock and awe gone awry. See "The Decision To Use The Bomb", Gar Alperovitz.
Tony Vodvarka, Hartly DE
It has been said that the welfare state started during the depression and continued through the cold war to keep people from becoming communist. If the capitalist system truly worked, they would not need any of that, ever. There would be plenty of jobs and housing and prosperity, because the wealth created by labor would be fairly distributed.
WORLD CITIZEN: Interesting post & quotes. I'd like to speak to this one, " I call this practice and this cosmogony structural violence;" and link it with the question brought up by XYZ on the American near-worship of militarism. It's clear to me that the metaphor of 12 tribes speaks to something significant that factors into the human equation. Charles Fillmore, the founder of Unity School of Christianity published a book based on the 12 disciples and noted that each one embodied a specific character trait. These 12 persona taken together form a balanced world model. Each is endowed with a special strength or gift, and conversely, with a flaw or weakness. Mars as first sign and signature of might, militarism, muscles and macho prowess is a VIABLE component of the great cosmic dial, the wheel of the heavens. Saturn-Jupiter (the hybrid law and order planetary personae that directly reflect upon belief structures taken from the Old and New Bible Testaments) also represent status and prosperity (including its attendant ambitions) in our world. When these traits fall out of balance, we witness abject greed. Violent force (Mars) and greed ("the love of money AS the root of all evil") are two powerful aspects of both human nature and the human experience that MUST BE check-balanced by the other principles, each Divine and each inlaid into the Creation blueprint of our world for the express purpose of Divine Order. What are the other principles? Well, JUSTICE, for one, as signified by Libra, is the zone that directly opposes Aries. In other words, it has been set in this position as a key counter-balance. Libra relates to fairness, equality and law. Pisces teaches compassion. Venus teaches us nurture and to honor the gifts of the earth. EVERY sign is a model, and each of us is a mixture of planetary coding. In this way no two expressions are alike, but patterns are easy to note. My point is that mankind has broken away from the Circle of Divine intention, and thus allowed for the politics and social systems built upon hierarchies. These always empower a few at the cost of the many, and in order to maintain power, they must demonize those at the bottom. The circle has no sides! It holds no hierarchical pattern, either. Those who despite astrology do not understand WHY this subject was given the castigation of heresy so that its wise practitioners were burned as witches or otherwise MURDERED. The teaching of the Logos is a key to transcending all the ism-divisions and the merciless policies that fuel them, that have led to so much human misery and depravity. When Mars is kept in check by ALL members of the circle, war is not the chief cause or calling of any civilization. When Mammon is held in check, similarly, we do not see a rise in mega billionaires and wasteful practices of consumerism, we see the many fed. Teaching children the wisdom of the circle is a strategy that can unlock their minds from the dangerous grip of divisive, long lasting belief systems that have turned brother on brother, sister on sister for centuries.
XYZ wrote: "What I don't get is that if America is in such love with militarism why did it go soft on Bush…"
WorldCitizen-
America is not in love with militarism. America is a nation controlled by some insanely greedy bastards who are in love with militarism.
We went soft on him once we seen what his intentions were. That being to support his corporate cronies and his family rule over our nation. Not the people of his country.
America? I doubt all of us are in love as you call it with militarism. Although I'm not one to totally agree with WorldCitizen. Being I have a growing developing opinion on needing to change to a military state. With what this present administration has done to our relations with the rest of the world. NOT to mention the now growing numbers of those who wish to destroy us for what our government has caused in the middle east. My opinion is that its time to bring all Americans home and work on America. Especially our infrastructure. Rebuild our military in methods and numbers to a point we can actually secure our borders to prevent terrorist and illegal aliens from coming in. Which I see doubling or even tripling the military, or more as needed. I'm talking about all of our borders, ports,shorelines, anyway possible into the country. This will provide jobs lacking from the theft of our manufacturing infrastructure, until its rebuilt. The present 9/11 crap isn't no where near enough. NOT to mention they cut funding for it almost as soon as the bill was passed. 75% of it not even being worked on now days. Communications have not been upgraded. Mexican border still lacks proper computers and man power to make a difference, etc. Our country is in the midst of major change. We are either going to become what people like Bush want us to become, or go back to what FDR took us to. Ole Rush has no problem stating they plan on changing all FDR did for this country. And its not for your benefit, its for corporate benefit. All eyes,guns, bombs are pointed at us. Call me Star Trek all you want. The globalist have the same idea I do. They just don't care about you the way I do. And their way will put billions upon billions into poverty and create continuous wars world wide. As long as currency is the source of gain and power, these people running the world will destroy much of it to get what they want. And if this nation doesn't change in the right direction within a few election cycles, there will be no turning back. We'll be the next communist country trying to take over the rest of the world for the name sake of globalization.
A Socialist Textbook I have - dated in 1972 - contains several chapters of Economic Critique of the U.S. Not suprisingly, it turns out - these are facts mind you - that, at THAT time, over 60% or our supossed GNP was Directly attributable to the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex we were warned of by none other than the Top General of WWII and later President, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Now, in 2007, this statistic is far greater - nearing 80%. That's 80% of our much touted "Free Market" GNP Directly dependent on the "Warfare State" Rational thinking should cause us to ask - How 'productive' are we, really? And what happens when (if) this Corporate Activity is extracted from our Economy??? You afraid yet???
The 'real' economic activity of Manufacturing is GONE !!! Outsourced by these Corporate Criminals and their Political Lackeys in MY Congress. Agriculture is Corporitized ! Nothing but low-paying service jobs left for those lucky enough to have them - they don't create true wealth. Basically Folks, We, as a Country, are in Deep DooDoo.
This gets more and more true every day. Literally everything you read and watch in the Mass-Media is a Chimera - Lies, dis-Information, Escapist Drivel, Advertising. Bottom Line is: We are Totally Broke and Economically hollowed out - Ruined by these same people who are now Raping & Pillaging the rest of humanity to prop up their Stocks and Blood-Money Profits.
It is time for Civil Insurrection, I think...
What a long and interesting thread. He reminds me of what I've come to understand the past few years, that I don't know half the US history that I should, and that it matters.
Seems that either the US is going to wake up to what we are and what's being done in our name and start making changes, or, it's not going to matter because war and strife of all kinds will overwhelm us, and we will change anyway. Either way, things are going to change. It's always been up to us, and even choosing to do nothing is, of course, a choice.
MarkMarshall: They could really use your skills over at the massive debate happening in response to Barbara E's article from two days ago called "Crushing Capitalism." Go over and have a look!
The sad thing is that we all pay for this war economy through our hard labor which is taxed. We have no choice. We are slaves to the war machine. The tax system is set up to take from you whether you believe in what is being done with the money or not. We pay.
The warfare state has enslaved us to corporatist financial elites who think of us as just an economic resource - infinite, expendable and knowing nothing worth wasting their time about.
We're all just shills insisting on our self-serving labels... and spewing out grand pronouncements amounting to nothing... while our Constitution is systematically... rendered meaningless.
What purpose does this document serve us if we finally have no underlying rules of law to govern our own wasting-away... from self-deception, institutionalized fraud and harmful abuse - all from within?
The progressive community needs to join forces with the forces of liberty first... by liberating our self-important, endlessly-chattering minds!
Isn't there anyone else besides Ron Paul who supports the Constitution anymore?
We can't beat these bastards unless... and until... we recognize what powers are supposed to be derived under the rule of law...
... And what powers are verboten... if we're to remain as free men.
Read it and weep!