Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

Instead of one of those fruitcake rightwing articles, I thought I'd post a link to one by a non-fruitcake. It's short but at least you know the writer won't show up next week on the other side of the issue depending on what Obama has done in the intervening time.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/04/is_america_addicted_to_war

"Yet Americans think of themselves as a peace-loving people, and we certainly don't regard our country as a "warrior nation" or "garrison state."

This is true. Americans are not, as a group, very accurately self aware. I defy you to find a decade when we didn't have a war somewhere.

Points from the article:

1. Because We Can.
This is true. When you spend as much as the rest of the world combined on armaments, the world looks pretty much like a nail. Even if it doesn't look much like a nail, it is tempting to hit it with a hammer just in case it works.

2. The US has no serious enemies
This is also true. There is no country anywhere near able to threaten us. This should mean we can radically reduce 'defense' spending, but it doesn't work out that way. We could put defense spending on a 20 year hiatus and not suffer much of a slip in superiority. It won't happen, but we could do it. I blame it on rightwing paranoia. The commies were not all that strong, but RR ran up the deficit to build nukes; al Qaeda isn't that strong either, but we now have something like 800,000 people working in national security. However, I will check under my bed before I go to sleep.

3. The All-Volunteer Force
This is also a problem. The writer mentions that things would change if the sons of Wall Street bankers were eligible for the draft. He has a point. I would expand it to include the middle class as a whole. [I also think that sooner or later Blackwater (or its ilk) will sell out to the rich Bolivians or whoever and seize control of the government in a coup.] Mercenaries are never ever a good idea, but that is not the thrust of this thread.

4. It's the Establishment, Stupid.
This is a weak point in the argument. It just repeats #1. It does include the point that we have decided it's wrong to tax people to help people here at home but OK to tax people to go overseas and kill people.

5. Congress has checked out.
I have mixed feelings on this one. It is true that it checked out, but as far as I can see, it checked out 235 years ago on this matter. So what's new? At some point you have to accept that no matter what it says in black and white, only the anally retentive care and go on about your business just as you have all along. In addition to that, it is natural that you would want public support for a war, but is Congress the best measure of that? Really? 535 prima donnas angling for re-election?

6. The Military-Industrial Complex
I know the writer only mentions it in passing, and I'm it's lackey, but it does play a part. A BIG part. I would put it under #1, #4, and #5.

In my opinion we will continue to be war-like until we can't, and then just like the Europeans with colonialism, we'll turn against it when we can no longer pull it off and get all moral and superior about how nice we really are.

Assessment of current wars:
#1: Afghanistan: A reasonable effort in the beginning (10 years ago) but totally screwed up the management and now it's time to cut our losses and come home.
#2: Iraq: Wrong to begin with and wrong now. Time to remove the last 50,000.
#3: Libya: A gamble to get on the right side of an historic movement. Too soon to know if we can pull it off.

[Space Bar]

America is not addicted to war. Capitalism with its quest for ever-increasing profits requires it.

[catman]

The Military-Industrial Complex + Messiah Complex = Constant Warfare

[bucheon bum]

[mises]

[visitorq]

[Space Bar]

See how much you each paid for war this year.

My share was over a grand.

[mises]

[wishfullthinkng]

[jss1919]

***Stupid Post Award***

Congratulations!