"Aye, free! Free as a tethered ass!" —W.S. Gilbert
"All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker
"You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison
"Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman
Friday, November 12, 2010
Op-ed: Republican Phonies
It’s time for some honesty from the Republicans. Either give up the empire and the conceit of “American exceptionalism” or give up the rhetoric of fiscal responsibility. Stop playing the American people for fools.
"I am anticipating the day when the possession of Tibet and Afghanistan will be represented as vitally necessary to the security of Kansas and Nebraska. There is no logical end to this elastic conception of 'security' short of the conquest of the whole world."
William Henry Chamberlin, Dec 1940
It's always been known just how crazy and utterly superfluous US military spending has been. It is the biggest, grandest, and as obvious as the summer sun lie Americans tell themselves.
General Smedly Butler laid out in his second most famous essay- on how the US cannot be invaded and it stands the test of time to this day.
This country wages war- because there are no serious consequences for doing so- precisely because this nation literally has no natural enemies- we go looking for them.
This is now the pattern of US wars- it goes abroad - usually the other side of the Globe - kills of bunch of foreigners who are no threat to this country in any way- then it comes home- builds a monument to the "war dead" and then we set about portraying ourselves in our popular culture as the victims of the country we attacked and brutalized. Then off to the next war.
I'm frankly at a loss to understand how any adult can believe ANY of the PATENTLY absurd rationales for these wars on the other side of the Globe or against hapless weak poor nations that literally do not threaten in ANY WAY that a sane person could recognize as being a real threat.
"I am anticipating the day when the possession of Tibet and Afghanistan will be represented as vitally necessary to the security of Kansas and Nebraska. There is no logical end to this elastic conception of 'security' short of the conquest of the whole world."
ReplyDeleteWilliam Henry Chamberlin, Dec 1940
It's always been known just how crazy and utterly superfluous US military spending has been. It is the biggest, grandest, and as obvious as the summer sun lie Americans tell themselves.
General Smedly Butler laid out in his second most famous essay- on how the US cannot be invaded and it stands the test of time to this day.
This country wages war- because there are no serious consequences for doing so- precisely because this nation literally has no natural enemies- we go looking for them.
This is now the pattern of US wars- it goes abroad - usually the other side of the Globe - kills of bunch of foreigners who are no threat to this country in any way- then it comes home- builds a monument to the "war dead" and then we set about portraying ourselves in our popular culture as the victims of the country we attacked and brutalized. Then off to the next war.
I'm frankly at a loss to understand how any adult can believe ANY of the PATENTLY absurd rationales for these wars on the other side of the Globe or against hapless weak poor nations that literally do not threaten in ANY WAY that a sane person could recognize as being a real threat.