War and peace in history

War vs. Peace

War and Peace: Rallying Americans to Support the Former

As Paul Joseph states in Are Americans becoming More Peaceful? "Cultural militarism and the degree to which patriotism, support for military values and for a president during a time of war, and more narrow concepts of what it means to be an American work against the tendency of Americans to become more peaceful" (185). Essentially, Joseph asserts that the rise of 20th century militarism -- the result of the military-industrial-congressional-complex (warned against by Eisenhower in his farewell address from Office) -- has resulted in a less peaceful United States. In other words, Americans are taught by numerous avenues and examples that war is the natural state of mankind. Neoconservatives across the board embrace this doctrine of perpetual warfare (because they believe safety depends upon militarism and totalitarianism). The problem is that militarism and totalitarianism can lead to unwarranted hostility and aggressive policies that destabilize America's economy, politics, and society.

Corporations play a big part in the way ideas of war and peace are promoted today. Corporations like Lockheed Martin profit enormously off of war, producing the weapons of mass destruction that the U.S. claims other nations have. Instead, such weapons are paid for by U.S. taxpayers and sold to nations like Israel, who in turn try to get the West to support its war agenda on Middle Eastern states. Ideology meets corporatism meets politics. American society is beaten over the head with nationalistic songs like "God Bless America" and trite phrases like "Support Our Troops," and is meanwhile denied the truth of who is really calling for war and why peace is not allowed. As Katherine McCoy states, "The ratio of military contractors to soldiers has climbed with each U.S. military intervention since the 1991 Gulf War. More private contractors work in the Iraq War than soldiers" (15). What McCoy observes is that private enterprises are benefiting -- even when politicians climb that troops are being pulled out and war is coming to an end. That is simply not the case. Troops are being pulled out and replaced with mercenaries.

By using such deceptive tactics as talking points like that -- "I will bring the troops home" (one of Obama's campaign promises) -- the American public are fooled about politicians' plans. Politicians are by and large bought and sold by lobbyists from the military-industrial complex as well as by the Israeli lobby like AIPAC. If Americans in favor of peace cannot be fooled by phony promises of pulling the troops out (because they know they are only being replaced by hired mercenaries and unrest is still being promoted in the Middle East as a part of America's foreign policy), then Americans are tricked into believing that the Arab states are full of terrorists and that America is not safe unless it occupies the whole of the Middle East.