Thursday, March 08, 2012

A State Dedicated to War - America


As we continue to face war and more war regardless, it seems, as to who is the current President of the United States (except Ron Paul who has been challenging the notion of constant warfare) Thomas DiLorenzo wrote "What You're Not Supposed to Know About War" at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.  Here is a sample of his essay about WAR.
  
It  is a testament to the power of government propaganda that several generations of self-described conservatives have held as their core belief that war and militarism are consistent with limited, constitutional government. These conservatives think they are "defending freedom" by supporting every military adventure that the state concocts. They are not.

Even just, defensive wars inevitably empower the state far beyond anything any strict constructionist would approve of. Prowar conservatives, in other words, are walking contradictions. They may pay lip service to limited constitutional government, but their prowar positions belie their rhetoric...

...The importance of understanding the political economy of war is perhaps illustrated by this passage from Randolph Bourne's famous essay:
War is a vast complex of life-destroying and life-crippling forces. If the State's chief function is war, then it is chiefly concerned with coordinating and developing the powers and techniques which make for destruction. And this means not only the actual and potential destruction of the enemy, but of the nation at home as well. For the very existence of a State in a system of States means that the nation lies always under a risk of war and invasion, and the calling away of energy into military pursuits means a crippling of the productive and life-enhancing processes of the national life.  CLICK on link above to read the whole essay.

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