Why We Don’t Have Nice Things

Everyday, my tax dollars, your tax dollars, are funding the incineration of innocent people who are absolutely no threat to us whatsoever for a goddamn profit.  Murder and violence in our name.

Syria is not an existential threat to us in the exact same way that Russia isn’t.  That North Korea isn’t. That Iran isn’t. I’m not sure what Yemen did, but they aren’t either.  The same way Vietnam, North Korea, Libya, Iraq et al. never were.  Everyday, America is an existential threat to each and every one of them.

War is a uniquely American way of life. Fundamental to our economy.  We’ve been at war for 224 out of 241 years yet we haven’t actually declared war in over 70 years.  We barely see the soldiers or the veterans anymore but there’s plenty of bumper stickers, posters and memes.

Nationalism is the new patriotism.

How the fuck is having 800 military bases in 70% of the world’s countries a good idea?  We’d never let another country get to 10%.  Britain, France and Russia have about 30 combined.  Go USA.

There are millions starving because life in a country where America, its allies, partners, corporations and private security contractors rain destruction and death everyday doesn’t typically include food, water or electricity on a regular basis.  Iraq, Libya and Yemen have been starving for all three for years.

Obama started his presidency with two wars and ended it with the seven. General Wesley Clark warned us specifically 60 years after general and president Eisenhower warned us broadly. Over 26,000 bombs in his last year alone.  Thousands of innocents murdered.

We bomb every country that doesn’t bank with us. Every country that has resources we haven’t already monopolized.  Bombing and killing shovels money into our banks. We shatter people, families, societies and countries.

Collateral damage.

It’s the business we’re in.

Blaming Trump for this shit sandwich is goddamn ridiculous.  I remember when I had my first beer.

Democrats who think republicans did this all by themselves are worthless fucking idiots.

15 years in Afghanistan to halt poppy production and kill the Taliban.  The monster America created. Thousands dead. $8 billion later. Poppy production doubled and the Taliban more prolific than ever. We fund and supply them to this day.

It’s not just CIA heroin, it’s a trillion dollars in vast mineral deposits. Multinational corporations are on the verge of a monster sick profit.  The poorest country in the hemisphere. Exactly why we are still there.

We’re just fine with not having basic human rights like health care and education, while every other country we pretend to protect, every other country we subsidize, assumes these to be the human rights they are. This is why we can’t have ponies or life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  You know, inalienable rights.

War is why America can’t have nice things.

If America is sincere about prosecuting the war on terrorism, our military industrial complex will begin committing suicide immediately.  America is the most terrorist state the world has ever known.

Drinks for my friends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6 Responses to “Why We Don’t Have Nice Things”

  • Elayne Johnson:

    As usual, Michael, you have summed up the parts in the best way possible. I fucking wish more people would listen, and HEAR. Look at what’s happening, and SEE. But they probably won’t. The patriotic monkey trio.

  • Jeffrey Casey:

    Finally we are talking about the real shit. Remarkably done my friend.

  • Nick Lento:

    General agreement in principle…General Smedley Butler in is famous “War is a Racket” speech made it clear tha the only “winners” are the greedy morally bankrupt wealthy profiteers and power mad “leaders” who profit in wealth and power.

    The problem of war goes very deep in to human history and human nature. If the USA disappeared tomorrow war would still be with us…the vacuum would be filled by plenty of other nations, despots and profiteers.

    Of course there is absolutely no excusing American history as regards war or as regards our own political/economic corruption. My point is that America is not the focus of evil in the world….nor is any other single nation or people. Simplistically hating on America is not going to solve the problem, hell, it may make it even worse as the expression of hatred for a nation is more likely to stir up more insanely stupid jingoistic “patriotism” than it is to reach people’s intelligence and conscience which are requisite aspects of becoming willing and able to live lives wherein common human decency becomes the categorical imperative as opposed to simply doing/getting what “you” want. Trump is an extreme and monstrous example, but there all manner of kinds and degrees of narcissism/egoism and it’s all toxic and a threat to the survival of our species.

    There is no ideological “ism” that can fully address the pathology of war. It’s all connected to just about every other category of insanely stupid and destructive behavior in which we humans tend to engage. No simplistic quick fix solutions……only a massive transformation of our own individual and collective nature will give us at least a chance of escaping the scourge of war and, potentially far more permanently lethal, the consequences of an irreversible feedback loop of global warming caused by our own collective greed and stubborn stupidity.

    It’s all connected…no piecemeal solutions will get us out of this potentially extinction level set of interrelated threats.

  • Sherrie:

    I so agree! This country’s military apparently rule our government! It’s all about money! Gone are the days of Eisenhower, Roosevelt , Kennedy!

    Our politicians do as told and if not the CIA gets rid of them!

    • REIYA:

      Sherrie, I think Kennedy was ruled by the military industrial complex, also. Not sure about the other two mentioned above.

      Michael, this is good food for thought, thank you!

      • Mary Kay Craig:

        And when JFK wised up, they got rid of him. See “JFK and the Unspeakable” by James W. Douglas. JFK went through the Vatican to be in direct touch with Russia to try to de-escalate the Cold War. Bang.

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