The war to end all wars

One hundred and two years ago, in July of 1914, the first tendrils of the flame which would become known as The War to End All Wars were sprouting. It was not an accurate name, later it was referred to as the first World War, even before we started numbering them, because it was recognized the world was at war. About 4600 years earlier, the first recorded war, the Battle of Ur, involved the world of the time. There is little doubt there were wars before that, the desire to write was never as strong as the desire to kill.

Humans have always been at war with each other, there have been more than one hundred major conflicts since the War to End All Wars. It can be difficult to tell when one ends and another begins, the “first World War” began as a conflict between Serbia and Croatia, which continues today despite numerous “peace treaties.” The latest spark being when the cases each had against the other for genocide were dismissed in February 2015. The Prussian military analyst Carl Von Clausewitz (1780-1831), in his book On War, calls war “a continuation of politics carried on by other means;” the Serbians and Croates always seem to find those means so something should be happening over there soon. And in Syria, The Ukraine, Afghanistan, Pakistan, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Israel, Iraq, Nigeria, Libya, and The United States of America.

Yes, I am hearing the call here in the states. Credible calls which I shall not spread less I be accused of sedition. Hatred and mistrust is at an all time high in the states, look at a political candidate, the one who you won’t vote for, and realize that person’s supporters feel the same way as you. Their candidate has been unfairly vilified, the process was rigged against them, there are multiple conspiracies against them, and the other (your) candidate is the worst being to ever cobble together 46 chromosomes.

I am quite accustomed to hearing young people talk about revolution. I refrain from laughing out loud, they are often passionate, but direct action has no safe spaces.  When our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence, they said “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” They understood the meaning of their words, they had lives, fortunes, and honor to pledge. The rumblings I am hearing today come from such people.

Recent events have been disturbing. Using a variety of ruses, the Bill of Rights has been under attack. In California, a law criminalizing speaking against climate change failed to pass, but the Department of Justice is considering civil actions to bypass the first amendment. The second amendment is dying the death of a thousand infringements. The third amendment, prohibiting forced quartering of soldiers, is in question in a case arguing that forcing land owners to allow government designated endangered species habitat is a violation. The fourth amendment has been all but overruled by the NSA. The fifth and sixth amendments, guaranteeing due process and listing rules of evidence and testimony, have been bypassed not only with drone strikes enforcing the death penalty against uncharged American citizens, but also in calls to use “no fly lists,” secret documents compiled without evidence, as reasons to deny second amendment rights. The seventh amendment, guaranteeing a speedy trial by jury, has not applied to the inhabitants of Guantanamo Bay or victims of countless other renditions, both within the continental United States and elsewhere. The eighth amendment, protecting against cruel and unusual punishment, was saved by a filibuster, narrowly preventing drone strikes on American soil. They are currently used on foreign soil to avoid renditions, which can cause bad public relations; better to kill than imprison. The ninth and tenth amendments have simply been ignored, as the federal government created new rights, sometimes (as in the case of Same sex marriage) overruling the voice of the people who passed contradicting laws by referendum. The president has scoffed at separation of powers with his statements of “I have a phone and a pen,” essentially saying “I can do whatever I want, nah nah nah.” The corruption revealed in the FBI and DOJ deny our intrinsic faith in the rule of law, and in any power the Constitution might still hold. Rules are meaningless without enforcement.

The calls for rebellion have many sources, the tinder already glowing. The first war encompassing the world started with a botched assassination in Sarajevo, the American revolution was sparked by a tax on a breakfast beverage.

The horns are blowing with the winds of change.

 

 

 

So you say you want a revolution?

I apologize for the political nature of many of my posts recently. I promise to write about less controversial subjects next week. Besides, there hasn’t been any discussion in the comments, which either means you all agree with me, or I’m scaring people away.

There was an article today that grasped my imagination more than usual. Farleigh Dickinson University released the findings of a poll that suggests three in ten Americans believe that an armed rebellion will be necessary in the next few years to protect civil liberties.

Not being a headline believer, I found even more interesting information in the article. The same poll revealed that one in four Americans believe the Sandy Hook shooting occurred in order to advance a political agenda. That is to say, it was an act of the government, not a mentally unstable young man. The relationship between the two percentages seemed an odd coincidence. Although the sample was 863 registered voters, I’m having difficulty believing it was a random representation of Americans. It is possible that registered voters do not represent the average American, I would tend to think that in the non political sense, registered voters tend to be more conservative, believing in democracy.

A look at conspiracy theories finds that if someone believes one theory, they are more likely to believe in other conspiracies. This does not mean these people are paranoid, it means they find conspiracies more comforting than the idea of random crazy individuals. I’ve often thought this was the reason the JFK assassination theories are so popular. It’s easier to believe a massive plot is required than to believe that one lone gunman can assassinate the President of the United States.

I have known a variety of ersatz revolutionaries, and a few real ones. Seeing the real thing tends to make you very aware of what is missing in the posers. Were an armed rebellion to take place, my experience with the American on the street indicates that the populace will support whoever appears to be winning at the moment. It’s much more fun to wave a flag than to be on the front lines. We’ve become a nation of internet activists, clicking “like” is in no way equivalent to exchanging fire with your countrymen. The current epidemic of post traumatic stress syndrome appears to validate the notion that taking a life in reality is not as gentle on the soul as playing a video game.

War sucks. It sucks so much that it should be our very last resort. I had thought that watching footage from Viet Nam every evening had convinced a generation of that fact. Unfortunately, that was two generations ago, the generation in between came to see war zones as video games, this generation is paying the price for that naivete. President Clinton eviscerated the intelligence community and believed he could just fire cruise missiles. In the ensuing years our Presidents (and in a more extreme sense their targets) have paid the price for inaccurate targeting. Armed rebellion mean dead people. Dead neighbors and relatives. Not just on television, but blood on the living room carpet.

I hear the talk. I’ve spoken it myself in the past. I’m not really worried about people who stockpile weapons. I don’t own any firearms, I am perfectly capable of defending myself and my family with what is left behind after the first skirmishes. I just don’t think it will ever get that far. I know how to survive, working with animals taught me the principle of “being the bigger dog”. Big dogs don’t bark, they just bite. It is my belief that all the barking about armed rebellion is coming from the chihuahuas.

I do worry. I worry about those caught up in the rhetoric. I worry about those who become caught up in the moment and commit acts they can never wash away. I believe the lesson to learn from the recent bombings in Boston is not what two misguided young men can accomplish, but the psychological impact that the bombing has on the surviving brother.

There is the very real possibility that we’re on the eve of destruction, and even though when Barry McGuire rewrote his song last year he didn’t include the allusions to nuclear war, the threat still exists. North Korea shows no awareness of the effects of nuclear weapons. Iran continues to press the envelope of diplomatic relations. India and Pakistan nearly started a nuclear exchange a few years ago. Our biggest post Soviet era fear was that nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union would fall into the hands of criminals, the underworld,  or terrorists. As we look at the current war in Syria, we see a society that has broken down, it’s not just “anti-government” forces, every feud between groups is being fought simultaneously. Unstable nuclear armed states are the scariest of current scenarios. In case anyone forgot, we’re a nuclear armed state. There’ll be no one to save, from a world in a grave.