A Mercenary Society -- By ROBERT JENSEN

[bemildred]

The failed war in Iraq -- and its effect on the U.S. military -- has the potential to spark the U.S. public to fundamentally rethink the role of force in U.S. foreign policy, and one of the central questions for the future of the United States is whether this questioning can mature and deepen.

Can we in the so-called "lone superpower" face that we are now a nation of mercenaries?

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Part of the barrier to a clear understanding of this is the belief that the United States, by definition, always acts benevolently in the world. But also standing in the way of an honest analysis is the reality that the brutal imperialist U.S. policies, while devised by elites, are being carried out by ordinary Americans. Can we in the United States come to terms with the fact that we are the "good Germans" of our era, routinely allowing pseudo-patriotic loyalties to override moral decision-making? Can we look at ourselves honestly in the mirror when so many of us are implicated in the imperialist system?

From the people who make the weapons to the military personnel who use them -- and all the other people whose livelihoods or networks of friends and family connect them to the armed forces -- most of the U.S. public has some relationship to the military. Any talk of closing a military base sparks almost automatic resistance from neighboring communities that have become dependent on the base economically. Large segments of the corporate sector rely on military or military-related contracts, and executives and employees alike understand what that means for profits and wages.

CounterPunch

[Dhalgren]

1. Thanks, bemildred, this is a very good essay.

He strikes the nail on th head with regard to all of us sharing the guilt of what our country is doing. If you support this naked imperialistic aggression then you are just as guilty as bush; if you oppose it, you haven't opposed it enough.

One section that hit me like a brick was this one:

"U.S. political elites have few options. Barring a serious economic collapse that forces more people into the military to survive, recruitment will continue to be a problem. Reinstituting a draft is not an option."

That is why the Republicans are destroying our economy. The way the economy is being dismantled won't affect the super-rich to a great extent (most of them are really "multinational" anyway), but it will crush the lower and middle classes leaving them with little else to do but join the killing machine.

I think that I will wind up dead or in prison in the next few years...

[bemildred]

2. Oh, oligarchy has been deconstructing the economy for a long time.

Since Raygun at least. At least, that was when they got serious about attacking small business, small farms, and the middle class. You can trace other trends farther back than that, most especially the parasitizing of the economy by the National Security State apparatus.