Demilitarization

The anti-war movement in America has suffered from a variety of factors, but I think among them we must count limitation of scope.

We focus so much on wars as they occur that we do not attack the roots of warfare in America.

I don't mean by this that we must oppose all wars all the time. I mean that American society has become constructed such that our leaders launch foolish wars across the globe and we have nothing to say to stop them, or even hold them back. There are an array of war-profiteers waiting in the background to lap up profits on any conflict. Our citizenry, divorced from the realities of war, fear genuine critique because they want to remain loyal to the troops. Our Congress refrains from exercising the only check the legislature truly has in times of war- the power of the purse. Our economy is held up by industries tied to warfare and military research.

All of this must end, and we must be the generation that ends it. The rank arrogance of Mad King George shows us how unstable this line of living is in the world, how dangerous it is, how easy it is for the strong to make foolhardy choices and try to push world policy at the barrel of a gun.

We will demilitarize American society lest our bloody habits destroy us.