war

The War Machine

Concepts that are ultimately meaningful are always at odds with powers that would control them.

Those powers will want only profitable, easy to digest ideas that dull the senses and limit the intellect. Such powers are not interested in ideas that are intellectual or actually socially progressive. The ideas that lead to exploration and question the goodness of profitable, easy to digest ideas demand more than empty rhetoric from smiling faces.

Courtesy, privacy, responsibility, and justice do not pay. Division, data, unaccountability, and easy answers often do pay at least in the short term and for the few. But it is in the small battles that we fight against the war machine and those who support it, that the war is wone.

The war machine is subtle. With ease comes comfort. With comfort comes apathy. And with apathy comes defeat. Those that value worthwhile ideas and meaningful activities and are willing to fight, will fight lonely battles in the night, if only for themselves, for ideas that are greater than all of us.

But in the darkness of greed, intrusion, control, injustice and apathy they are the pinpricks of light in an otherwise dark tunnel.

Gunpoint

“You can’t build a nation at gunpoint”

War is waged by people in suits who peruse accounts and numbers, statistics and costs, benefits, namely their own. A person is nothing more than a numerical figure to such people. A figure that can be added or subtracted. 

Their world is one of illusion and reality mixed seamlessly. To them there is the 1% and then there are the 0%, the rest. Their’s is a zero sum game. Their desires are there own, for themselves, and at all costs.

These people are human but they are not humane. The are mortal but have gods on their sides. For every generation has its suits and seamless integration of engineers and accountants. These are not the movers nor are they the shakers.

They are the destroyers. They are the ones who piss in their pants to stay warm. And no matter how much you say, no matter how much you try to make them understand, they will not. They cannot. Because theirs is the world of numbers and probabilities. There is no winning. There is only more, or there is less.

And on their side of the table are those who believe that wars are winnable.

Truth is Like Poetry: 13

Problem: Militarization of Society

Someone, somewhere, said something like: war is simple-minded, stupid, and immoral.  But sometimes it’s necessary.  The attitude behind such a statement is that military machines are necessary for society, but should not be central to the concept of society.  Eisenhower actually coined the phrase “military-industrial-complex” when he said in his farewell speech: “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex.”

The problem is that the militarization of society has occurred.  In short, our societies have been unjustifiably influenced by the military industrial complex.  Partially out of fear.  Fear introduces profiteering, military build-up, the introduction of laws giving the military more and more power.  But also out of greed.  People with a vested interest in the militarization of our societies have a greater and greater say in its laws and policies.  Unfortunately, violence pays and there’s always someone looking to make a buck.

As our societies become more militarized they become more fearful, leading to xenophobia, and a larger fear of the world itself, often times of our own countrymen and neighbors.  This leads to further phobias about anything that seems ‘out of the ordinary’.  Boogiemen are seen everywhere and conspiracies become accepted and normalized. A vicious cycle starts.

Corporations use the military as a profit-cow, and governments use the military as an easy way to bolster support, and to veil actual issues that they do not want to or cannot address.  This leads to a less civil, less peaceful, less desirable society in which to live.

Solution: Close lobbying loopholes, change contractual laws, military powers given back to Congress

            The military-industrial complex was created after WWII when corporations realized there was massive profits in the war machine.  This realization and the deregulation of corporations by government through lobbying in particular (starting with Reagan in particular), has allowed for the massive military build up that we have today.  Closing military-based lobbying loopholes for all corporations is necessary.

            During another Republican’s watch, W. Bush’s failed stint as a president, Dick Cheney had vested interests in Haliburton.  Others had vested interests in other corporations that were feeding the military machine. Private “security” forces such as Blackwater arose.  Contracts with the government should be limited to individuals with no associated ties to the government or people in the government whatsoever and any privatization of military should be banned.  Contracts should be open to all companies, and not just a select few.

            Lastly, over the past years, the decision to put the military into action has been slowly been given to the executive branch and taken away from congress.  This must change.  The decision to go to war, or to enact the military in any way must be solely given to civilian officials.

            Perhaps and unfortunately violence is a condition of being human.  If so, we must remember that rational thinking is also a trait of humanity.  With that in mind, we must always ask: what kind of society do we want?  A peaceful, progressive, productive one, or one based in fear and ignorance?

Truth Is Like Poetry 8

5.    Problem: War*

War is, of course, waged for numerous reasons but all of these reasons can be summed up into two basic camps.  First, there is the need and desire for resources, and then there is the desire for political power.  These two often coincide with each other.  Of course, the problem of war is steeped in human limitations (greed, arrogance etc…) as well.  As the population grows, the world becomes smaller, and more and more nations become richer, resources will continue to grow in importance.  The obvious problem here is that there is limited resources and a seeming exponential growth in population.  The other side of the population growth is that more and more people desire to live in more and more luxury: more things, more tech, more consumerism.

Secondly, the desire for political power is a ubiquitous problem for those in power.  And, as political power often equates to economic power, war is often waged for money.  Money and politics rarely mix well, especially when business and government coincide.  Oligarchical and plutocratic tendencies are as old as human society.  So common and accepted is the idea of corporately-corrupt politicians that a new term has been bandied: corporatocracy.  But these problems have now become even more dangerous with the easy spread of disinformation coupled together with public fear and ignorance.

War is often the result of the sordid soup of politics, money, and power, but it is almost always based upon fear and ignorance.  While we may never rid ourselves of our warlike tendencies, we can at least accept that we are a violent species and start changing from there.

Solution: National governments/Global Economies (the UN)

            The solution to war is, of course, a complicated one.  Not so easily come to and won’t happen quickly.  But, in order to create a workable basis government(s) must work together, which they rarely do on a larger scale.  For this reason, an international government is needed.  This sets the stage for two things.  First, national interests become cultural and social, not economic; and secondly national interests are separated from the economic interests.  The European Union is, perhaps, an example of this on a smaller scale.  Each country keeps its autonomy to an extent, but economic needs and desires are defined on a larger scale.

            With an economic “government” on a global scale, economic power and decision-making are spread over numerous countries, which still maintain power and decision-making on a cultural and social level.  The idea is the separation of political power while maintaining a global interest economically.  With a global economic system, each country will hopefully have a more vested interest in each other while at the same time being separate countries.  A global economic government which is comprised of both economic and political powers will only be larger cauldrons in which the same old problems cook.