The con job goes on. Throughout the Cold War, the CIA and our government consciously misrepresented the military prowess of the Soviet Union, exaggerating their military strength. They did this, of course, to justify a continuation of our obscene military budgets, to continue to feed the fat-and-sassy corporate culture that fed off the military budget. The same con job continues.
It is a little more difficult these days to invent a credible boogie man. We call the current boogie man “terrorists.” Of course, terrorism is a tactic used by the powerless who think they are being oppressed or are oppressed by military forces they cannot confront. The Israelis used that tactic in 1948 against the British, the American Indians against our cavalry in the Wild West.
To keep fear alive, our government has engaged in two unnecessary wars. Iraq and Saddam Hussein, though once our clients, did nothing to us, but we attacked them and killed hundreds of thousands in the process. Now, we fight the Taliban who, when they were in power, were no threat to the United States, only a threat perhaps to Pakistan and the women of Afghanistan.
We continue to maintain thousands of troops in Germany, Italy, Spain, Korea, Japan, Guam, and hundreds of other stations and camps around the world. The Navy with its 12 aircraft carrier groups dominates the seven oceans, up to the shores of China and other nations in Asia.
This military imperialism does not endear us. Imagine if Mexico, an ardent trading partner with China, decided it would be in the national interest to have a Chinese military base with 20,000 troops in Mexico. How would that be received? Imagine if the Chinese navy regularly patrolled off the coast of California.
It is time to stop being the unwanted “protector” of the world. A good example is South Korea, a prosperous country that could very well afford to see to its own defense. The same is true of Germany and the European countries.
The fact of the matter is that our military expenditures, which exceed a trillion dollars a year if you add in our two unnecessary wars, are obscene and the reason for our annual deficits. The truth of the matter is most of our voluntary military spends their time in training exercises and sitting around waiting for a retirement at about age 50, hoping to make either lieutenant colonel or master sergeant. The military produces nothing, other than jobs for corporate America, which lives off the military budget. The money saved by severely downsizing the military could be spent to create jobs for salvaging our crumbling infrastructure.
This is not to denigrate the sacrifice of those soldiers actually fighting and dying doing their duty. We honor them and regret the sacrifice they are called to make.
The fact is the United States military is the largest socialist institution, probably in the world. These are public employees in a vast unproductive bureaucracy. It is amazing that rather than cut this obscene military budget, politicians are talking about downsizing Social Security, Medicare, Medi-Cal, laying off teachers and workers who aid the elderly and the infirm. The fact is, we have been so imbued and convinced by the military con job, no one seems to see reality.
In the absence of a voter revolt, there is very little likelihood the obscene spending on military matters will change. Too many politicians are owned by the corporate world that lives off the military budget.
James M. Duenow is an attorney in San Luis Obispo. Send comments via the opinion editor at econnolly@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2011.
