This is an ancient question, but a question with one very clear answer.An answer from the sages in our past who we are very fortunate to have had, but sages which we have ignored to our great demise in recent times.
An answer that seems today to be totally and completely at odds with the conventional wisdom-hype and propaganda, which is composed of the glorification of the greatest source of the toxins of power.
Our founders were well aware of the question and the answer hundreds of years ago.
They spoke the answer with unmistakable words and with certain clarity:
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied: and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals, engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. Those truths are well established.(James Madison, emphasis added). The visionary who made that statement was the 4th President of the United States, Bill of Rights author, Congressman, Cabinet Member, and who was also called the "Father of the U.S. Constitution".
The above quote is from his "Political Observations," April 20, 1795, in Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, Volume IV, page 491-492.
Notice, in the quote above, how Madison equated or associated the toxins of power with disease epidemic concepts, saying that the war toxin "develops the germ of every other" anti-freedom toxin.
War enhances the spread of corrupting toxins.
Clearly, he is saying that war is a corrupting toxin that generates other corrupting toxins, which will eventually destroy what he called "public freedom".
Further, war, the greatest source of toxins of power, is the province of the military, therefore, what Madison said about war applies without restriction to the military.
It is no wonder that President General Dwight Eisenhower warned us, with great concern, about that very dangerous source of the toxins of power we always face.
That is also why war is given the highest number in the tables of toxins on this blog.
4 comments:
"No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare". Wow. That is so quotable. I'll be using that at every opportunity from now on. Thanks, Dredd..
It is, however, painfully obvious to me that our current state of "continual warfare" is by design - the power elite have engineered it from the get go. Does the phrase, "Building 7" have meaning here? It sure does, unless you've been asleep for the last 10 years..
The Military-Industrial-Complex now controls every aspect of American society. Zeek-friggin-Hile Comrade, welcome to our "Brave New World"..
How did this happen? Well, in a word, Pride.
Americans have become so accustomed to extolling the virtues of our so-called "free society" that we have all come to believe our own hype, to the detriment of any logical discourse to the contrary. We feel entirely justified in dismissing any possible criticism of how our government works, secure in the knowledge that it will always be "the best in the world".
So anyone who might point out that any number of American politicians can easily, legally, and without fear of *any* legal penalty, pass any number of blatantly "unconstitutional" laws, is quickly deemed a heretic, a communist, or whatever. So our "Bill of Rights" remains a "quaint little idea", instead of the indispensible law of the land that it was supposed to be. "Patriot Act" ring any bells here?
American politicians have an average 98% re-election rate? Gee, they must all be doing a nearly perfect job.. The Soviets were not even that good (at maintaining their power)..
The blindness that I see in the average American towards their own system of government is actually quite astounding. Any criticism, no matter how rational or well-considered, is dismissed out-of-hand as an unacceptable criticism of America itself.
But the holes in our system of government are there. And they have been successfully exploited. And we are now living with the consequences of that exploitation..
Anonymous,
You are welcome.
Spread the word, too, about another possible war opening up south of us.
Here is an article about how the media has created "military pornography".
Peter Van Buren
This novelist has an interesting perspective (How War Vanished From Our Novels).
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