Eliminating War

What has gone wrong with the nation of my birth?  America used to be the beacon on the hill, the leader of the free world, and the place of limitless opportunity. What happened? Where did it go? Thinking back on it, didn’t we get off on the wrong foot when we began killing off the indigenous population. Our goody-goody ancestors were a bunch of egocentric butchers. Ask an Indian.  All this talk about the Mayflower and pious Quakers and sitting down with Tonto and eating a fine turkey dinner on Thanksgiving - is nonsense. We killed off the Noble Savages as quick as we could. Those that we missed were eventually rounded up and imprisoned behind barbed wire on the open plains. Let’s face it; the first white folks to arrive here came with a religion full of fire and brimstone and not much else. They certainly were not then (or now) very nice to the Red Man. The new arrivals were actually religious bigots with blunderbusses and false beads. They stole the land that became our nation.

A few years went by before somebody figured that we should have a government to prevent everybody from killing each other. The slave owners, rich guys, and powerful land barons got together and designed a proper “Judeo-Christian” government. If followed it would rule and keep the peace. To everyone’s surprise . . . it worked. The old birds did a pretty good job of establishing a workable government.  It wasn’t easy. There was a lot of arguing,  posturing and irrelevant elocution, but in the end they came up with a carefully reasoned set of instructions and prohibitions including the papers of the Continental Congress, the Federalist Papers, The American Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Tom Paine’s pamphlets and a few amendments to the Constitution.

These several pieces of paper were intended to be used for many succeeding generations. They were designed to limit the power of government and provide the most individual freedom possible.  The Constitution, for example, could be changed only if a specific, complicated and difficult process was followed. Those hard-to-change documents were expected to be the rule and guide of our new nation . . . something like the Ten Commandments became the rule and guide of Christianity.

With the signing and adoption of those documents, the new government began. At first it seemed to be working – but it wasn’t. A few of the “rules” had to be changed. Constitutional amendments were enacted to correct deficiencies, but the government still wasn’t perfect. It was, however, a better government than any other on the planet.

At the time of adoption we only had half a nation as the Louisiana Purchase was still in the future.  No one knew about Seward’s Folly either, but Alaska was a horse traders bargain when it finally happened.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before there was a grinding conflict between free states and slave states. A disastrous Civil War finally united the several states, and as a side benefit, slavery was abolished. Even more important, Americans discovered that they could participate in wars if they didn’t like something. And so began a periodic succession of wars.

During the Civil War it was the government that decided citizens should kill each other. It was hoped that the War would unite the states into a respectable and cooperative nation, and at the same time, free the slaves.  It was the bloodiest damn war we had ever seen, but it almost did the job. Be sure to note the “almost”.

Look what has happened since. Every few years Americans have participated in (or started) another war.

There was a study, The Report From Iron Mountain, which was composed by a largely liberal group that included John Kenneth Galbraith. Briefly, it found that:

• war produces waste and controls surpluses
• war produces jobs and industrial advancement 
• war stimulates the economy
• military service is a patriotic priority in society
• War produces a state supported haven for the unemployable.

Look again at this list. It’s a good summary of the advantages of war to the state. The decision makers, Presidential Administrations, Congress and the Supreme Court, and etc., faced with a long range peace and stability threat . . . tend to choose war.  War insures the subordination of citizens to the state because of the residual war powers that are inherent in the concept of our nation.

A serious critic has determined that “only in times of war or the threat of war are a nation’s citizens compliant enough to carry the heavy yoke of government without complaint”. No amount of sacrifice in the name of victory will be rejected, and resistance is treason.

In peacetime citizens resent high taxes, shortages, and government interventions. It is interesting to note that no government has long survived without enemies - and armed conflict. Why is this? Because war has always been an indispensable condition for stabilizing society.

Now let’s skip ahead in time to the George W. Bush Administration. Since then Republicans have rightly been accused of two principal characteristics:  (1) They like to start wars and, (2) they don’t like to pay for them. Republicans are aware that support for the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan has always been paper thin. Bush Jr. also knew what happened when his father raised taxes to pay for the first Gulf War. He lost his political job. Consequently, the Bush, Jr. (Republican) administration resolved to fight wars on-the-cheap and with deceptive cost estimates. This policy turned into a gigantic, costly and deadly mistake.  According to the Office of Management and Budget’s, Peter Orszag, it costs about $1 million dollars per year per soldier in the field, and the cost of the war in Iraq (so far) is estimated to be about $775 Billion Dollars. The cost of the war in Afghanistan, about $378 Billion Dollars. Right now, continuing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan appears to be running about $12 billion per month. How are we paying for these wars?

The Obama White House has no plans for paying for the war in Iraq or the expanding war in Afghanistan. It gives every impression that, more than likely it will follow the Bush Jr. precedent and just put it all on the national credit card. Who cares about the deficit anyway? Republicans are now being forced to choose between continuing to fight wars that they started and still support, or raising taxes.

1. Republicans in Congress would rather drink poison than raise taxes.

2. If the Democrats decide to end these wars it will be even more difficult to increase taxes to help pay for their progressive programs. It’s a Mexican stand-off.

There is yet another angle that Mr. Obama must consider. Robert Dallek, a Boston University historian, convincingly told Mr. Obama that “war kills off great reform movements.” He cited:

• World War I ended the Progressive era
• World War II ended the New Deal
• The Korean War ended Truman’s Fair Deal, and
• the Vietnam War absolutely crushed Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society

Our President is a radical liberal Democrat who is attempting to force very expensive progressive legislation on citizens who are not convinced that they want.  Common sense indicates that it would be easier for him to find support if the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan were ended tomorrow. Theoretically, there would be more dollars available for social programs. Sadly, that is not the case at all. Ending the war would actually make it more difficult to either cut existing programs or raise taxes for new programs.

America today has many social programs that have been enacted with no mechanism to pay for them. (Social Security, Medicare, Obama-care, Government Employee Pensions, and etc.) A few of these are very important to our citizens and it is unrealistic to consider ending them or even scaling them back. So, the government has passed that burden to future generations.  They are borrowing non-existent (future) money to fund un-sustainable programs. When President Bush, Jr. took office this kind of spending was already in place – and he made substantial additions, particularly when he added the immediate financial cost of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan – without raising taxes and without relieving the national budget by shrinking or ending non-essential programs already in place. George W. Bush, Jr. caused a tremendous increase in our national debt.

When President Obama continued the unfunded spending with his disastrous national health care plan, the looming disaster arrived. America is now on the verge of bankruptcy. It is a desperate situation that must be relieved by one or more of the following measures:

• tax revenue must be increased
• the ill-conceived national health care plan must be cancelled
• the qualifying age for Medicare must be raised
• the War in Iraq must terminate 
• the War in Afghanistan also must end
• the government must develop a defensive military plan 

Some Democrats have suggested that Republicans seem to believe that war’s end badly thought out government programs. This becomes a tongue-in-cheek argument for continuing wars while the Democrats have power. This, of course, is a blatantly unfair accusation and is not what happens. War tends to:

• increase the size of government
• increase the scope of government
• increase the spending of government
• increases taxes to increase government revenue
• and restricts civil liberties permanently

Republicans do not wish these things to happen.

Over many years it’s been the Democrats who have sponsored most progressive (and often flawed) social programs that were not in accord with our nation’s heritage. Their adoption of social programs expressly prohibited or certainly not intended by our nation’s founders is very disturbing. It has become common that unpopular Democratic social legislation often bends, distorts, or ignores of our Founding Documents.

Unfinished…..