Daily Archives: Sunday, April 12, 2009

Here’s a measure.  It’s a quote from Ike.

“Every gun that is fired, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed….”

This is not a sentiment a modern Republican politician would be able to publicly offer without being drummed out of any significant position of power.  It is even difficult to imagine a Democratic politician speaking in this manner where citizen poverty and suffering is weighted against noble war.

Between that point in time and this, there has clearly been a successful derogation of the poor and disadvantaged.  They are, in this formulation, deserving of their status and condition (as are those at the under end of the scale, axiomatically).  As well, there has been a successful fetishization of war and soldiering and vengeance (how have Christian communities become so enamored of war and killing?  how is it the capture by Somali pirates of an American ship captain spurs the murderous rhetoric we now see from the right?)  Finally, there’s been a successful dissemination of the notion that external enemies abound, whose eager intention is to destroy America.

As the NY Times piece linked below notes, at the end of Eisenhower’s term, seven years had passed  without a single American serviceman’s death.  No President since can claim the same.  I truly don’t know whether America can get itself out of the grip of the enormous national dynamic which facilitates and promotes militarism.

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