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Overwhelming Question

Sep 11, 2014
by Caroline Miller
Armed and Dangerous, end of conscription, Military/Industrial complex, preemptive strikes, William Pfaff
10 Comments

Some mornings I awake with a deep sense of guilt.  The lives of people I have never met are being torn apart by war, their homes bombed, their families separated and many of them killed.  Each day the question for them isn’t what movie to see or book to read.  The question is how to survive.

What separates my good fortune for their bad one isn’t a consequence of my having lived a meritorious life.  It depends upon happenstance.  I live in the United States. 

 I could accept that fact and count my blessing if it weren’t for my concern that I and my fellow countrymen are, in part, the cause of so much suffering.  Have we, in fact, become too accustomed to being a nation at war? 

 In 1979 we gave up our citizen army in favor of professionals, many of them private contractors.  With the shadow of conscription removed, have we created a disconnect between our daily lives and foreign policy?  If so, what is the consequence of that disconnect?

 In his farewell address to the nation, President Dwight Eisenhower,  a military man by profession, warned us to  beware of the industrial/military complex.  We should have listened.  Instead, that complex has grown.  According to William Pfaff, author of several books on American foreign policy, our “military command and Pentagon bureaucracy are integrally linked to the aerospace and defense industries –and this partnership exerts a huge influence in the political arena, most notably in Congress.” (“Armed And Dangerous,” by William Pfaff, Harper’s Magazine, August 2014, pg. 59.)  One could almost say that the industrial/military complex has  become a 4th arm of government, he observes.

 What should concern every American is that this “arm” of government answers directly the Oval office and secondarily to the Congress.  When George W. Bush unilaterally instituted a policy of  “preemptive strikes” where no overt provocation exists, that was a disturbing departure from the past.  Worse, President Obama has built upon that authority and claims  the “prerogative of killing whomever the United States deems a terrorist,  without due process or public consultation” —  a prerogative that may be turned against U. S. citizens. (Ibid pg 59.)

 For our country’s latest position on war and peace I refer my readers to: http://greenshadowcabinet.us/statements/us-continues-block-chinese-russian-proposal-ban-weapons-space

 I’m finding it harder to accept the self-image we have created for ourselves that we are “good folks” striving to defend world peace when, in fact, we are the most heavily armed nation in the world with an economy that profits from the sale of arms to other nations.  Do our arsenals that overflow with advanced weaponry inspire trust or do they encourage other countries to fear us and to arm as well?  How safe do we need to be?  That is the overwhelming question.

industrial miliatry complex

Courtesy of combscartoons@yahoo.com

 

 

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10 Comments
  1. Pete Paradiso September 11, 2014 at 7:46 am Reply
    No mention of 9/11 on 9/11?
    • Caroline Miller September 11, 2014 at 9:09 am Reply
      No. I write the blogs 6 weeks out. I don't always follow the calendar. I agree today is a sad anniversary and should be remembered. Thank you for bringing it to everyone's attention. Nonetheless, the militarizing of American politics is an important matter.
  2. Bill Whitlatch September 11, 2014 at 9:42 am Reply
    Thanks ! Veteran for Peace
    • Caroline Miller September 11, 2014 at 9:56 am Reply
      I can well understand that those who have suffered most in war know all the reasons why the methods we have employed to resolve conflict over the centuries do not serve. As the song asks, "when will they [we] ever learn?" Thank you for your comment.
  3. Pete Paradiso September 11, 2014 at 10:09 am Reply
    It's just that I was there ... not in the Towers, but not very far away ... I remember the surge of fear in me and in everyone around me ... Fear, not sadness ...
    • Caroline Miller September 11, 2014 at 10:28 am Reply
      I can only apologize if today's blog seems insensitive to the 9/ll memorial. I honor your feeling about that event. And I regret the exquisitely poor timing of my remarks. Still I think it fair to raise questions about the role the military/industrial complex in US foreign policy. In fact, I dare to ask if our beefed up security and the intrusion of the NSA into every facet of our lives has made us safer since 9/11?
  4. Pete Paradiso September 11, 2014 at 10:15 am Reply
    I also am a Vietnam-era veteran ... Not courageous, fearful ...
    • Caroline Miller September 11, 2014 at 10:31 am Reply
      I greatly respect fear. It's purpose is to keep us out of trouble. And I am always grateful for an opportunity to say "thank you," to a veteran, especially those who served in Vietnam.
  5. Pete Paradiso September 11, 2014 at 11:31 am Reply
    I volunteered in the face of war as a way of escaping the grinding poverty of the south Bronx, where childhood already was a matter of survival ... The military, we thought, was a way out ... I didn't serve in Vietnam, but many friends, mostly Hispanic and African-American, died there ... But far more died on the streets before they could enlist ... You needn't apologize about 9/11, it happened many years ago in New York ... I don't commemorate the day, I don't know what to say to those who must ...
    • Caroline Miller September 11, 2014 at 12:09 pm Reply
      Your point about the safety of our streets is a good one.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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