America the Invader
This is a tricky musing to write. It is not written to impugn the motives, at least for most Americans, for having invaded like 60 countries since World War II and bombed many dozens of nations. No other country has come remotely close. Basically the concept appears to be that if we don’t police the world and nip antidemocratic challenges in the bud, the domino theory kicks in and we ourselves, as a nation, will be at risk of attack. Behind much of this is the belief that we, with our wealth and military might, know best what kind of government, culture, and religion is best for others less prosperous or weaker militarily.
For me, it just seems most nations simply take what they can, when they can, and justify what they did just like we justify what we have done and continue to do. Humans tend to be greedy by nature— as individuals, as families, and as nations. Some individuals, some families, some nations manage to discipline their greed more than others, and ironically, with exceptions, those who discipline their greed end up the most contented. The Swiss are probably most contented, and if they spoke English, I might be attracted by the contented simplistic state of mind. The most discontented are those for whom enough is never enough regarding money, power, fame, control, and so on. Addiction, the failure to be satisfied with enough of whatever, is a very frustrating medical mental condition.
Historically America has pretty much taken whatever it now owns. The Indians of various tribes were in the Americas first, but despite the vastness of these two continents, no native Americans control any national boundaries within the Americas. There are 35 nations which make up the Americas and the natives control not one of these nations. I would guess the ethical solution would have been to at least allowed the original inhabitants to have one nation all by themselves. I mean, really. Unfortunately, most Americans are more like the Puritans—the Puritans may have escaped religious persecution abroad, but once they had their own colony, no one persecuted those of different religious beliefs more than the Puritans. They even managed witch burnings. We now settle for the less bar-barbaric method of death by gunfire, sometimes multiple deaths per round. Expansion from the original colonies was always by military conquest or monetary buyouts. Manifest destiny became an American mindset with the corollary mindset that God Himself was on our side. After World War two, when every other major power was in a state of rubble and exhaustion, only America was poised to recover on it’s own with all of it’s infrastructure in place, and seemingly endless natural resources. Overnight we became the world’s superpower— operating on a self serving notion of manifest destiny, I guess as a a gift from God——albeit am not sure which true God of which true religious sect blessed us in this way.
Our very first President, Gentleman George Washington, warned us against getting involved in European conflicts. I reckon even Washington would have helped other countries from being taken over by Germany in both World Wars. Being a Superpower came with serious drawbacks. And these drawbacks have reached a very dangerous point. As a nation we need to re-examine just what our endless meddling in the affairs of other nations has gained us.
For a start, since World War II and maybe the Korean War, what has all this invading and bombing and boycotting gained us the past 50 years? I guess we won with Reagan’s Granada, the least significant nation we have invaded. We had some success with the Balkans, and then I draw a blank. If our goals were noble and we were trying to bring democracy, prosperity, and tranquility to the invaded nations, then we not only have failed, but have made life for them just as bad or worse. Rubble, refugees, gangsters, religious wars, poverty, no personal safety for the inhabitants, and deaths by the hundreds of thousands or millions—AND inside every ‘defeated’ country there are groups who blame America for all of the above miseries, so we become a prime target for almost all the terrorist groups in the world.
It seems like old fashioned war with uniformed government soldiers fighting on battlefields has become obsolete. But that hasn’t stopped us from building more and more weapons—smarter and smarter, more destructive than ever—while supporting military bases in 63 countries——more foreign military bases than any other people, nation, or empire in History.
History doesn’t really repeat itself for the simple reason things change and with these changes, the old ways which worked before fail to work anymore, and new ways are necessitated. But there are some generalities which seem to still be intact. For example, every empire in history with rare, if any exceptions, has imploded mostly from within by the accumulation of wealth domestically within the hands of a few, while other segments of the population get poorer, and the cost of maintaining a foreign empire becomes too costly and unmanageable. This fits the U.S. to a tee right now and there are no political platforms which seriously address this dilemma. To make matters much worse, we just need add human overpopulation of the planet and climate change. What is different here is that we are no longer talking about just America imploding for the usual reason empires implode, but also the global implications of this overpopulation and climate change—AND I guess we can add the global sport of terrorism which is available to any group or individual angry about most anything.
We kind of have the gut feeling that even America, the most powerful military might on the planet, cannot stop the kind of terrorism taking place across the globe. If I want to create havoc and kill a whole bunch of people there are thousands of ways I could do such a thing. It is simply unpreventable, and such incidents are happening now at an exponential rate. Why? In part because our gadgets, which provide all kinds of information to our brain, overload our neural circuitry, getting us agitated about more and more things, and mostly things over which we have little control. So many personal things which we could do ourselves were simply not in our thoughts 50 years ago. No one envisioned going to school and getting shot. No one envisioned attending a movie, or a shopping center, etc and having someone with a military weapon of destruction kill dozens of people at random within minutes. Utilizing amazing irrationality we seem to have concluded that if we all walk around armed with weapons of mass destruction we will all be safe. It is no surprise that those states with the least restrictive gun laws have the most gun deaths. I mean duh? We all, I assume, understand that violence begets violence, but then emotionally we ignore this and actually perpetuate violence as a means to control violence. Not too bright. We need some more evolutionary progress and fast.
Now let’s examine how the greatest military power in the world is actually working. Why do we keep invading all these countries when there has been no real success for over 50 years? Keep in mind that we don’t really pay for these invasions. We borrow the money because, while we want to invade, we don’t want any tax increases. Nor do most of us want to personally participate in these kind of wars. Thus we borrow the money and depend on mercenaries to fight these wars (those who sign up to serve, in most cases do so because it brings an income and some independence). Of course the next generation is even less interested to pay the debt off and so we just end up deeper in debt. And politicians find it easiest to get elected if instead of campaigning on the need to pay off the debt, they campaign to give the middle class a tax break. The whole business here could not be more disingenuous and dead ended.
The truth is that these wars, fought on borrowed money and with mercenaries, combined with tax cuts—all this means that most of us need sacrifice nothing for these wars. On top of this, these invasions stimulate the economy and richly reward all those involved in the industrial military complex that Eisenhower warned us about. Unemployment would rise substantially without all these invasions. It is not far from the truth to say these incessant invasions are our most lucrative industry, and the biggest source of employment, one way or another, for our citizens.
It is probably fair to say that all the countries, with precious few exceptions, have never recovered from our invasion, and are worse off economically than before we invaded, no matter how bad their government at the time. We need to be a tad more honest. Many of the citizens left alive after our invasion, including all the refugees scattered across the globe, live in a most pitiful manner, numb from all the stress they have been through, and often are simply at the mercy of whatever gang of thugs controls their community for the time being. We ourselves are furious at the hundreds of innocent Americans who have been killed by terroristic attacks, including the 3000 killed in the 9/11 attacks. But our anger probably pales next to that of some in these invaded nations who feel all the rubble, the displaced persons, the refugees, the millions killed or crippled or homeless, or forced to live in unsafe unhealthy conditions are due to our terrorism. If an American drone or missile kills several in their community what is so different from a terrorist taking out several Americans in a terror attack with their body bomb, land mine, or automatic rifle? Who is the terrorist becomes relative.
In essence we cover our financial benefits gained from these invasions with pompous claims that we are the freedom fighters, the liberators, the white knights rushing in to save innocent people from slaughter, the ethical force in the world. If this were really true, given the failures of all these invasions, we would stop invading these sordid countries. And for the most part, sordid they really are. Religious wars in the Middle East between factions of the same religion have been going on for centuries, much like Catholic and Protestants in Ireland spent hundreds of years killing and hating each other. We should never enter any religious wars. They are absolutely the worst kind of wars, which invariably know no end to the cruelty involved. When humans think God is on their side, God help those who are the heathens in question. No method of killing is ever cruel enough to satisfy religious fanatics. We may have fought all these wars over in the Middle East to save them from themselves, but the sad and ironic result is that we have become far more like them now in our politics and violence than they have ever become like we envisioned them to be.
We even got silly, and for example, claimed we got so involved in the religious factions in the Middle East because we needed the oil. Really? What is so wrong to simply state if we cannot buy oil from any country in the Middle East at market prices, we will simply go in and take it. Everyone wants American money, foremost and always. We don’t have to threaten war, just wave our money in front of them.
And for Heaven’s sake: What logic gave the UN a right to create a religious state for a particular religious group? The UN didn’t create a state for the American Indians, strewn across the Americas, or the Baptists strewn across the globe, or the Hindus, or the gays, or the atheists, or the handicapped, etc. I guess by the same flawed logic the hispanics in Texas should be given a portion of Texas for their own state. The healthiest thing for organized religious groups, and for citizens as a whole, would be to ensure there is no such thing as a religious state. There is no worse tyranny than the tyranny of a religious majority given state control. Religious fanatics always feel that their true God has dictated to them how things should be and that is the way they will be. End of debate. Like who has any right to oppose God?
Recent elections across the globe have done nothing to remotely address the issues which are the most important for the survival or advancement of the human species. When we have an election here in which a major issue is considered to be whether using the wrong internet server disqualifies someone from being President and other such trivial garbage, there is little hope for advancement of our society. If all these invasions are dumb and non productive, then maybe we should desist.
Most everything today is global, whether we like it or not. Ignoring this hardly generates any useful solutions to the real problems we face on this planet. Let us start by remembering that 99% of all species which ever existed on our planet are now extinct. We understand, and to some degree accept, that all of us will die, that no one gets out of this world alive. But in reality, almost all species will not be around forever either. Will our species be the exception? I have no idea.
Right now it is estimated that there are 10-14 million different species existing, and we have documented about 1.2 million of these and 86% have not even been described. Species come and go in the evolutionary process mainly because climate changes occur. There have been 5 major extinction periods in evolutionary history.
1st One: 444 million years ago—86% of species became extinct
2nd One: 375 million years ago—75% of species disappeared
3rd one: 251 million years ago—96% of species disappeared
4th One: 200 million years ago—870% of species disappeared
5th One: 66 million years ago: ——76 % of all species lost
According to most (75%) evolutionary scientists, we are now living in the midst or start of the 6th massive extinction period, which they are calling the Holocene Extinction Period. We are now said to be losing up to 140,000 species per year. These species are in our way.
What is different about this 6th massive extinction period is that the cause is due to the activity of a particular species—yep, you guessed it, they are talking about the human species. Our species is putting tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Perhaps we will find ways to remove it, but that won’t solve the companion problem which we simply refuse to address: human overpopulation. The human population on this globe has doubled in just my lifetime. If anyone thinks human population can be allowed to double again, this is clearly delusional. We understand from Biology 101 that overpopulation is a disaster for any species, but we manage to pretend that the human species is exempt. Responsible reproduction is something which needs to be enforced globally, but it is a topic not even mentioned in Presidential debates. We actually pretend the future depends on such crucial issues as abortions, gay marriage, prayers in school, marijuana use, and a myriad other hot button issues that really amount to lack of tolerance to diversity.
The real issues facing this country and most every other country on the planet are not addressed at all. The current election, which will probably be over by the time I finish this, does not determine whether the shit hits the fan, but how soon the shit hits the fan. Trump will likely blow up everything in short order and delight in doing so. He is a very unhappy emotionally disturbed extremely self serving blowhard who has lived his entire life making sure anyone with whom he deals gets the short end of the stick. That he could actually be in the running for President doesn’t say much for the mind set of millions of Americans. For different reasons, they too are angry, Trump is angry, and so Trump is their guy. That’s about the end of their logic. Hilliary would probably succeed in stalling the inevitable for maybe a few years. Unfortunately, the inevitable is not something we can run from.
The human species is about to implode on itself, if not to extinction (unlikely I would guess right now) to total and violent disorder. All this will happen, sooner rather than later, for the following reasons.
1. Human overpopulation
2. Climate change
3. Inability for there to be global living wage minimum wages. In a global economy, without reasonable minimum wages which rise with inflation, workers are simply screwed. There is no way to effectively compete with those working for slave wages.
4. The inability to globally prevent those at the top from grabbing an obscene amount of their nation’s wealth. In the U.S. 2-5% of the citizens now own 90% of our wealth. Outrageous.
5. As long as recreational drug abuse is a police and political issue instead of a purely medical matter, our ever growing in size ghettoes will become poorer and evermore violent.
6. The inability of the ‘Golden Rule” to become the ethical standard for all people everywhere. Religious sects have become outdated and antithetical to enabling diversity to prosper and there be peace for all “Gods” children
7. Illogical information overload via gadgets which are filled with information that has no logical or scientific validation. People don’t have to live much with the reality of others around them. Social life these days is often pretty much with others via media gadgets who look just like us, think just like us, behave just like us, and so on. This encourages hostility to human diversity, and removes any pressure for us to understand those who are different from ourselves.
8. No country, with as diverse a population as in the U.S. can be prosperous, peaceful, and have justice for all until differing groups can find ways to truly respect each other and ensure that all the diverse groups get justice, opportunities, a level playing field, and emotional support for everyone just trying to make a better life for themselves. Modern day ‘family values’ has become a toxic social poison in which we learn to worry only about our ‘own’ and to ignore the needs of the rest of ‘God’s children’ When everyone matters, then—and only then—will everyone achieve some contentment, those who give and those who receive. That’s real ethics and the only ethics which matters.
Does anything written above matter? In the purest sense no. The script for evolution is determined by the laws created by “God” (however one visions this) and not by any particular species. It is us who have created a God in our own image, And in our best self-serving desire have declared that we are special to God, and even that each of us can have a personal relationship with God, that if we pray to God, He might even alter the laws which govern the evolutionary process as a favor to us personally. There is zero evidence for this. Much as we might wish otherwise, many of us will reach the point where we, frustrated to the hilt, ask “Why God hath thou forsaken me”?, then are forced to recover our anger, lest we anger God in our frustration, and conclude that “God operates in mysterious ways” and we move on to die or accept our fate until we eventually do die.
On what basis would God allow one person to be born in the right place, by the right parents, at the right place in time, and allow another person to be born in the wrong place, by the wrong parents, at the wrong place in time? We like to think we ourselves have earned our successes and blessings, but this is clearly hogwash. The best we can hope for is to be lucky at birth and then hope, via the Golden Rule, that others will help us achieve some contentment with our limited potential. As a child I Iearned to help my pets achieve some happiness and helped them be safe. This brought me contentment. That same principle applies on an even greater scale with other people. The more time we take time to help others with their needs, the greater contentment we will achieve ourselves. We would do better to never give gifts or inheritance, or excessive amounts of our time to those in no need of this, and to always give whatever we are in a position to give, to those most in need. Absent any case for special handicaps, children once past their formative years are best left to be financially independent from their parents, and all adults, including those with handicaps, become the collective obligation for all members of society to assist these least fortunate with their differing needs. That is hard to do, but is also the fairest for all concerned. Only then does any society achieve the maximum amount of contentment for the greatest number of citizens.
I have taught at one of the most prestigious universities and one of the least prestigious universities. At one just about every student passes the course with an A, B, or C. They would never have gotten in were they not good students already. At the other university it was a good semester if 25% managed to pass the course. The difference was that, for many in that 25%, their Professor played a major role in helping them to become a better student so they could pass. They end up, often after some intense clashes, with eternal gratitude and the Professor ends up with elevated contentment for his/her role in enabling the student to succeed. In a prestigious university the students are already good at the game, and they will succeed no matter how good or poor the Professor is as a teacher. If our job is such that there is no opportunity to help the less fortunate, then there are all kinds of ways to do just that away from our job. Money, time, and skills are all helpful tools to go through life assisting the less fortunate. The dividends are great.
As I repetitively do, I will end with my favorite quote:
“There is a way of life, a way of thinking, of behaving towards other men and your fellow creatures, towards all living things, towards the whole earth and the sky and the sun that is based on love, on compassion, on respect, on cherishing everything there is around you because it is wonderful, unique, it’s natural and good and it evolved that way by itself, it’s got to be cherished and if we think like that, and live that kind of life, we can all have our freedom, we can all have our happiness, we can all feel the sun and smell the grass and smell the flowers and look upon each other with appreciation.” (Unknown)
I reckon since I wrote all the above before the Presidential election I should comment how someone who envisions our major problems as those numbered 1-8 in the musing above, feels about the election. First of all, neither I or any other human determines how the evolutionary process ends up. This is all decided by the laws created to drive the evolutionary process. Certainly my ending quote is hardly applicable to Donald Trump. We need remember that the only two constants which have characterized Trump’s life are revenge—and the principle that whenever there is an interaction between one person and another, someone will get the short end of the stick—and just be sure it is always the other person. He became very wealthy by this principle. He is not likely to change either of these two traits.
The favorite quotation above describes a frame of mind that is best suited to ensure that we ourselves, in our behavior, talk, and actions, live our own lives in whatever environmental situation we find ourselves at any time in our lives. All we can personally do is help the less fortunate as much as we can for as long as we can. If we cease doing this then our level of personal contentment will fall no matter our current environment. Only society as a whole can make the playing fields more level for all it’s citizens. As individuals we are more limited. We do what we can, be grateful for the help and good luck we get, and try to make all with whom we come in contact a better person for having had contact with us, and never let go of “There is a way of life, a way of thinking, of behaving towards other men and your fellow creatures…….” . This is probably the most important mental state to retain no matter what societal circumstances prevail at the moment, especially after this election.
It does seem unfortunate that people would elect a President, apparently on the belief that this person would not really be the kind of person who he was all of his life, and during his campaign. We can then only hope he changes, which of course I will, along with others. Because of my age, life circumstance, financial situation, and belief that this election only determines how soon the ‘shit will hit the fan’, not if—I do not have the same at stake as the young or those struggling to make a living with mortgages, low pay, few benefits, bad neighborhood, severe health problems, and so on. The saddest change in my life is having to suspend my FANAFI Fund until I see what the impact of this election is on the financial markets. So far so good, which surprises me, but then it is really too soon to tell.
My musings tend to be more philosophical about various areas of life than political in any narrow sense. However, this particular election was the strangest election in American History, or so it seems to me, so I will write a musing titled: The Strangest Election and then revert to more philosophical topics.
