Fixing America In 500 Words Or Less Chapter 11 WILL WAR SECURE PEACE? According to George W. Bush, we are fighting in Iraq to “secure the peace” and, to “secure freedom and democracy”.  Is there any historical or other rational reason to believe him?  If war can secure peace then why, after 10,000 years of war, isn't there peace on earth by now? ¹ War didn't begin with the American Revolution, nor did it end there; many soldiers who fought against the British rose up in “Shay's Rebellion” against wealthy colonists who were taking their land and throwing them into debtors prison.  Soon after, another war against the British erupted. Then came the Mexican-American War, Civil War, Spanish-American War and War in the Philippines.  And then, the so-called “war to end all wars”, WWI, soon followed by WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War and now, the Iraq Grand Blunder to end all blunders war. Spaced among these, were several slave uprisings, a long drawn-out war against Native populations and many smaller wars and skirmishes.  There have also been many “uprisings” within the U.S. population, including mob murder of African-Americans, Irish, Jews, Mormons, Chinese, Latinos, adult and even, child workers on strike. ² Today, after all this bloodshed, we find ourselves at war, yet again.  In spite of the overwhelming historical evidence, a morally bankrupt American population remains quick on the trigger and very slow to understand, that war will never “secure the peace”. Some people claim that Gandhi was wrong because he ended up a martyr.  Yet, Martin Luther King, Jr., Cesar Chavez and a great many others claim to have been inspired by him.  How then, did Gandhi lose? He quite obviously won big time. According to Jesus, the solution to war is to put down our swords.  A small child can easily grasp the crystal clear logic of Jesus, yet we find people today pretending to follow him, who still promote war as the solution.  The life of Jesus has inspired millions of people to promote peace and goodwill.  He won a far, far, far greater victory than all of the military generals in history combined. It is entirely logical, that if I promote peace and goodwill, I will help humanity and leave a positive legacy for others to emulate.  It is likewise, entirely logical that if I promote war as a solution, I will hurt humanity and extend the trail of tears for others to emulate. ³ We have little choice what our wicked leaders or other people do. However, we each have an individual choice to stand up for peace and goodwill or, to bow to peer pressure and promote war. It takes courage to stand up against one's own society, which is why Isaiah and Jesus continue to be revered by millions.  It takes only a victim of societal pressure to promote war.  It is mature to promote peace and goodwill; it is childish, historically and logically, patently absurd to promote anything else. The Author of peace and goodwill grants us all freedom of choice.  You decide. NOTES: 1. War is undoubtedly by far, the most irrational of all human endeavors.  One cannot logically expect peace to result from violence, any more than one can rationally expect to squeeze a glass of fresh drinking water out of a petrified pebble. 2. According to an Annenberg Media documentary on 19th Century America, there were over 35 major riots in American urban centers between 1830 and 1860, as the American industrial revolution was coming into its own.  Working people today who support neo-conservative economic policies and believe that unions are unnecessary relics of the past, have been blindsided into voting against the interests of their own selves and offspring by modern-day "supply-side" economic liars and corporate lackey right-wing radio media hacks.  Since the implementation of "trickle-down" theory under Ronald Reagan, ongoing business de-regulation has succeeded in producing by 2007, the widest gap between the rich and the poor in American history.  While union power has been steadily curtailed, profits for corporations and salaries of top executives have steadily risen and many former benefits have been curtailed or eliminated entirely.  Gross corporate malfeasance and mass corruption has flourished in insurance, banking, health, communications, transportation and other industries.  Wages for middle and working-class Americans have mostly stagnated and in many cases, have gone down significantly when adjusted for inflation, during this same 20+ year period. In order to enjoy the same approximate lifestyle today compared to that of a typical blue-collar family with one working parent in the 1960's, both parents often find it necessary to work two or more, full-time jobs.  Thus, conclusively proving that supply-side economic theory is one of the greatest lies in the history of human civilization.  Instead of excess profits of oil companies translating into lower prices at the pump, the cost of energy and other basic necessities continues to spiral out of control.  Instead of excess business profits trickling down into the pockets of average Americans, they have been "supply-sided" more and more into ever larger and more expensive homes, yachts, jewelry and art collections for the mega-rich, while the lifestyles of most working-class and middle class Americans continue to move ever closer to the 14-18 hour day, healthcare-less and other benefit-less, unsafe working condition economic slave reality of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. 3. According to an August 29th article published on CNN.com, over 2,000 Iraqis in Northern Iraq have contracted cholera as a result of poor drinking water due to the illegal Bush war.  According to UNICEF, "forty-seven cases have been confirmed as epidemic cholera, but the number is expected to grow."  There have been reports of widespread disease in Baghdad and elsewhere, which has long been a "hidden" major cost of war.  Historians estimate that human disease, often caused by war, including being often caused by transmission of disease from a "protected" population by soldiers to one that has not built up immunities, has contributed to far more casualties than all of the actual battlefield deaths in all of the wars of history combined.  Disease was a major contributing factor to uncounted deaths for generations in our own revolutionary war, our civil war and in every major conflict the United States has been involved.  The long and ongoing extending historical human trail of tears as a result of war, numbers in the many billions, including not only battlefield and later actual casualties, but also inducing major negative psychological, social, economic and other devastating repercussions on families of victims for generations to come.  There is no excuse for anyone who has ever picked up a Bible or a history book, to ever pick up a gun as a means for settling a dispute of any kind between nations, or any "side" within a nation. Click to Go Back to Contents Other Books by Richard Aberdeen Click Here to eMail the Author Copyright © by Richard Aberdeen Copyright © by Freedom Tracks Music No part of this material may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.  Inquiries: Freedom Tracks Music ~ Records / 292 Trails Circle / Nashville, Tennessee 37214 or requested via eMail.  Appendix Revolution and Revolution/Side B are open copyright and may be reproduced or utilized as desired.