Wednesday, May 8, 2013

How to End the Wars - It really is easy and it's been done before



Americans are somewhat aware that our current crop of wars not only never seem to end but they actually are expanding into other countries.  It's as if the US Military is a global militarized dictatorship that resembles a giant octopus that is enveloping and devouring everything in its deadly path.  The war in Afghanistan has expanded into Pakistan, courtesy of Obama.  Obama launched the war in Libya, engineered the takeover of Egypt by dangerous Sunni Salafist Wahhabist psychopaths and he's arming Sunni rebels in Syria as part of his regime change schemes to topple Assad, a man who has done absolutely nothing to America or threatened us in any way.  We've got the  "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" Republicans and Democrats who are lusting to bomb, nuke, invade and occupy a nation of 75 million folks.  America's foreign policy insanity is on steroids and  continues to multiply exponentially.

Will we ever have peace?  Only if we kill the military industrial complex that lords over us and is devouring our liberty and prosperity as well as reigning terror and death upon numerous foreign nations and innocent people.  American's won't admit it but America is really a military dictatorship.  Our local police forces have been transformed into para-military, federally funded militarized gestapos.

Here's the bitter truth that Americans cannot face:  We murder for defense contractor and Wall Street profits.  If that's not the epitome of a thoroughly debauched and degenerate nation, I don't know what is.

But here's another truth:  Americans have the power to end the wars and the military dictatorship that lords over us with a terrorizing iron fist.

The military industrial complex (MIC) and its enormous powers expanded greatly with the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 and the US entry into WW I in 1914.  By WW II, the MIC had grown significantly more powerful and by the time the Vietnam War rolled around, America was in its infancy of a full fledged military dictatorship.  Today, we are bearing witness to the scourges of military power and its oppressive tyranny.

So how precisely do We the People end MIC power?  It's really quite simple because it's happened before.  As the Vietnam War raged in the 1960's and expanded into Laos and Cambodia, anti-war sentiments were building strongly in America.  The slaughter of millions of southeast Asians and a rising US military death toll was angering the people.    LBJ's war was such a disaster that his re-election was in jeopardy.  As the situation grew progressively worse for LBJ, he feared the humiliation of a general election or primary defeat so he decided NOT to run for re-election in 1968.  Nixon, a foreign policy hawk,  won the 1968 election.  The Vietnam War resulted in over 58,000 dead Americans but the hawks were determined to wage the Vietnam War for all eternity.

However, Nixon was soon smothered with anti-war Congress Critters who ferociously fought to end the Vietnam War. By 1973, Congress simply refused to fund it.  The American Prospect did an excellent analysis of the Vietnam War and how it ended.

How Congress Got Us Out of Vietnam
...in January 1973, the president knew that he only had a limited amount of time before Congress finally used the power of the purse to bring the war to an end -- regardless of what the administration wanted. Indeed, to make certain that the president could not reverse course, in June 1973 Congress passed legislation that included an amendment sponsored by Church and Case to prohibit the use of more funds in Southeast Asia after August 15. Sixty-four senators voted in favor. When the House assented, its vote marked the first time that chamber had agreed to cut off funds, too.
And that's precisely how the Vietnam War finally ended - it was defunded by Congress when Congress refused to appropriate anymore money for it.  

While presidential war making powers have expanded considerably since the Vietnam War era, what hasn't change is that the president can't wage wars or do much of anything unless Congress appropriates money to fund the wars.  It's Congress that controls the purse strings, not the president.

We the People elect Congress Critters and We the People have the power to fire the warmongers who vote to fund the wars.  With 100 Senators and 435 members of the House of Representatives, finding information is very easy in the Internet age because voting records and roll call votes are available online.  Moreover, organizations like opensecrets.org have huge databases of political campaign contributions and it's easy to identify the Congress Critters who are wholly owned subsidiaries of defense contractors.

If We the People want peace, it's within our power to achieve peace by not electing anymore warmongers to Congress.

It really is that simple.  It's been done before and we can do it again.  Slaying the military industrial complex is not only critical to world peace and peaceful co-existence, it's absolutely critical to our economy and fiscal stability.  Wars have consumed American prosperity, vastly contributed to our $16.8 trillion in unsustainable debt and are directly responsible for the miserable decline of the American middle class.

It's long over due to end the blood money that flows to Wall Street and defense contractors.  Americans who vote for warmongers definitely have blood on their hands and they are no different nor any less vile than the evil banksters and defense contractors.

Let's do it. No Excuses!

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