Maybe Calvin Coolidge was right at the time, but the business of American is no longer business. It's militarism. Sure, there are a lot of businesses tied to the military and working actively to make sure the military teat never goes dry. But the first principle, before business, is militarism.
Let's be clear, we are not a peace-loving people. But we sure as hell are a platitude-loving people it seems. Rather than tiring of platitudes, it would seem that we are demanding more all the time.
Watching the pregame ceremonies of last night's MLB All Star game was a shocking reminder of my intolerance for patriotism on the cheap. "We honor our men and women who are serving around the world to protect our freedom." Let's call bullshit.
In the first place, there are no men and women anywhere in the world "defending our freedom." I defy anyone to give a convincing reason for our continued presence in Afghanistan, but one thing is certain: however anyone tries to sell it to us, no one is even going to try to convince us that our national freedom is being challenged in Afghanistan. We went into Iraq on bogus grounds that never did have anything to do with protecting our freedom and, to whatever extent we still have a presence there, it still doesn't have anything to do with protecting our freedom.
Second, if we truly honored the men and women in the military, we would not accept the horrendous bipartisan delays veterans face when it comes to filing claims for benefits. Are you aware that the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs have incompatible computer systems that cannot even communicate with each other?
And we wouldn't make outlandish assertions to our soldiers like "you go to war with the army you have, not with the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
No, what we really seem to appreciate are cheap, empty displays of sentimentality which painlessly convince us of our own basic goodness. We are supporting our troops. We are standing up with our hands on our hearts.
And I ask the same thing I did a year ago when I heard the announcers salute "the men and women who are listening to this broadcast in 175 countries around the world on Armed Forces Network." Why the hell do we have troops in 175 countries around the world? At least we haven't expanded our footprint; I'm almost certain the number a year ago was also 175.
I say again, we are a militaristic nation based on the big lie that we are the exactly the opposite.
1 comment:
Trying to let this soak in, give it serious consideration, despite the gloomy, dark overtones.
The idea that "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" can inspire us to look for the scoundrel everywhere. Baseball is a commercial enterprise and its best interests are to give the buying public what it wants. Patriotism goes hand in hand with baseball, so it is natural.
Again, the oppressive negative view is a bit off-putting, and the claim that the military has nothing to do with "defending our freedom" is food for thought despite being contrary to what I might have typically thought.
While none of us would endorse "patriotism on the cheap," I wonder what real patriotism looks like?
I wonder why Obama, who apparently thought Afghanistan was a place to be rid of, hasn't acted more quickly?
Anyway, your essay gave me some food for thought. Thanks.
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