America is engaged in nearly a dozen wars at this time.
All wars are wasteful to an extreme
Nobody truly ever wins one, since the mind-set that engages in them believes that might is right and in that hawkish process looses sight of compassion and scorns the dove of peace.
Engaging in our wars consumes over 80% of our GNP.
As a result our national infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating.
Our international reputation is in shreds.
We are deep in debt and have no reserves to fall back on.
When a catastrophe such as Katrina occurs, there is very little the government can do.
Right now we are domestically and internationally engaged in:
A war against terrorism - and losing it
A war against drugs - and losing it
A war against illegal immigration - and losing it
A war against poverty - and losing it
A war against crime - and losing it
A wear against divorce – and losing it
A wear against sodomy – and losing it
A war against abortion - and losing it
A war against inefficient national energy production – and losing it
A war against ineffcient health care - and losing it
A war against global pollution - and losing it.
Our strategy for winning is to use huge amounts of borrowed money, an infinite array of weapons and vast armies of soldiers, police and bureaucrats.
Our tactics, which includes going into massive debt, spying on private citizens, bribery and torture have become a matter of international scorn
Having set our course we will stick to it. So nothing is going to change and we will continue to loose these wars until such time as there is amass change of consciousness. This invariably only happens when people hit rock bottom.
What a shame.
What we need now is a new kind of leadership; one that looks past short term economic and political gains and sees far enough down the road to see victory on all fronts.
That new leadership can only come from a new kind of person who institutes a new national Constitution.
Perhaps the members of this forum would engage in a discussion on this sorry state of affairs and maybe help plan a new kind of national strategy.
I thought it was a war on ‘climate change’. Y’know, as though the climate weren’t in a constant state of change anyway. If it were a war against pollution then I’d have much more support for it.
All of the things that you’ve listed can fit into the capitalist economy. The basis comes from the old idea of the so called Military Industrial Complex. That is said to be a group of industries that exist to make money off of wars.
Now you can pick the industry that will make money off of any given war. It’s good for business to have a dramatic war going on.
That does not mean that all such wars are without merit. There’s lots of oppression and misery in the mideast and people that would love to spread it around the world. The western common sense says that this is bad.
War has never been the solution to any form of transgression. If one degrades a person, or nation, or belief system, one sinks to the same level. The essence of repatriation is to respect the underlying integrity of all living beings and try to use one’s privileged position to lift it back to its natural level. Love for neighbor and turning the other cheek will always be the ultimate wisdom.
The power and position that material wealth brings is only a tool, not a god. It cannot be used to measure the spiritual wealth of any person. If we keep indoctrinating each new generation to become materially wealthy, they will always worship money and we will always need larger armies and police forces and endless new laws to protect that wealth. In that single-minded process of procurement we create envy and resentment among others, and consequently only have ourselves to blame.
We need leadership that values and respects the infinite wealth of creativity that is latent within each human being above all material things. We need a new education system that concentrates on motivating the inner creative power of the human spirit and not simply on the outer trappings of the social image, competing for a better parking spot and a corner office in a corporate headquarters, leaving the under-motivated to serve our needs on the mass-production line.
These are the values that will end all wars and allow all of us to expend all our energies stewarding the home planet creatively.
We know that what you’re saying isn’t true. I’m not saying that they aren’t good ideas, but they aren’t true.
Wars have shaped most every nation on Earth. In fact, I’d say that Europe is calm because the people have grown tired of the endless series of wars experienced for the last several hundred years. It’s not that the people are peace loving, but exhausted.
My knowledge of people tells me that those who do not want to turn the other cheek must be worn into compliance.
Since and starting with the French revolution, most conflicts in the world have been fomented by the Frankist bankers. This is what quite a few have concluded, including some illustrious insiders, like Benjamin Freedman: http://www.iamthewitness.com/DarylBradfordSmith_Freedman.html. The principal objective is, you used the right term, to exhaust people into thinking that a one world government is the solution to world peace…
I think Borat is tasteless and shows no signs of intelligence in the way that he tricks people. It’s not even clever. Just a set up. Like pouring a bucket of water on an old lady’s head. It might be funny, but not really.
Goes hand in hand. If you listen to the Freedman’s speech, they did an about-face smack in the middle of WWI (just a few extra million victims). Which is something Ezra Pound had figured out before.
What I am saying is both true and right, that is why it is good. The vast bulk of humanity is peace-loving. If that were not so we would all be long dead. The evolution of our higher state of consciousness is based on trying to live up to ideals that transcend jungle laws.
National industry and conscientious craftsmanship, founded on a profound Belief in an omnicient Godhead are the forces that shaped the Iron Age. Wars are a distraction from that foundation of human cultivation.
Mankind is basically still a timid ape who once only occassionally engaged in territorial disputes. Escalating warfare evolved during the late Bronze Age when over-crowding led to more serious territorial disputes. The same trigger led to national wars in the late Iron Age. The same trigger is now being pulled internationally in the late Steel Age.
With world populations now at an alarming exponential level we are on the brink of our most dangerous moment.
There never was nor ever will be any grand conspiracies behind wars. The events are always bigger than the man. Dwindling resourses due to over-crowding are always the underlying trigger. The rich and the greedy and the short-sighted simply exploit the mass mood of the moment.
From an individual recruiting perspective, wars are the result of a primative mind-set that responds in part to a male adrenaline rush, followed by a base greed for fame and easy pickings. One always ends up ruefully licking one’s wounds, swearing never to engage in another one.
To my mind, any analysis other than the above is simply pseudo-intellectual masterbations and a convenient way of avoiding doing nothing to halt war at a personal level.
You are simply rationalizing the primitive mind-set of every war monger since the late Bronze Age. It is unconstructive, globally dangerous and a denial of the meaning and purpose of human cultivation…
That is a facitious retort. War is an easy way to gain attention and incite a populace. Wave a flag and manufacture an oratory that evokes national fear. It just takes a few bulytboys, like the junta of would-be generals and political junkies we presently have in Washington, to get it going. Unfounded criticism falls into the same destructive catagory.
I repeat the bulk of humanity is law-abiding and peaceful and places a natural sense of trust in their leaders.
They admire bravery in the face of violence. Only the criminally insane admire violence for its own sake.
If any contributor to this thread disagrees that there are unneccessary wars going on, or that they are not bankrupting us and leading us all into dangerous territory, then say so and lay out your case. If not then at least try to contribute something constructive to the general discussion.
Remaining a curmudgeon all one’s life does not validate one’s existence. It dsgraces all the priviliges our ancestors have worked to install
Talking in general, all this cyncism has got to end one day. It is a sure sign of rebellious immaturity and a cheap shot at trying to sound informed. We are faced with deadly seriouis problems and we need serious people to address them. Trying to evoke the innate goodness in us may sound stuffy and 'untrue" to the pseudo-intellectual, but if ever there was a time for it, it is now.
No, if people were peace-loving then their love would be such that they couldn’t be talked out of it. They like peace when it presents itself and like violence when it does. They do not want either imposed on them though, meaning they don’t like either too much.
If you look at what is considered entertainment much of it involves violent or near violent conflict. This can be seen in films, books, and sports.
My point is that people really enjoy what’s going on.
A new constitution is not needed at all, just a return to the principles of the foundation and a heavy reading of the founding generations. Wars are lost when the population is too divided and due pressure cannot be put on the dissenters. Liberals are pretty much responsible for these wars being lost. What should we expect. They support the enenemy in most of them. Wake up and look at yourself if you are one of these trendy “critical” liberals that pervade universities, media rooms, canada and europe. You are the bringers of death to America and Europe.
Which people? The few gluttons at the top of the pile? Go sell that to the billions who live on the edge.
My God man! How insulated can one get! The crumbling walls of Gomorrah are not just a fable. Every one of us, rich and poor alike, are never more than a step away from ruin. Take a trip into the 3rd World. You can cut the hate for America there with a knife. It is a rich breeding ground for international Terrorism. It is not personal with them. This nation is simply the biggest target to aim at. Speak to the well-to-do families of the World Trade Center and they will tell how quick the hammer of resentment and retaliation can fall and how all the money in the world can never replace a loved one.
No amount of protection can ever stop them from coming to get us. We have to go to them, not with a hand-out, but with a brotherly hand to help lift them up and freely share in our wealth of technology.
The only war we should engage in is against ourselves and our host of selfish addictions. That is a war that can be won if we have the will to do so.
I’ve been all over the place and have only seen a few example of people trying to fight oppression. Even that tends to wear out in time. The common man loves the strongman and if not will learn to accept them.
I see no sign of change anywhere in the world. In fact, I believe that things are reverting to pre-enlightenment standards across the world.
