American Might and Arrogance
Who, what, exactly, do we want to be?
There is no doubt that a strong military is abundantly necessary to ensure our nations safety and continued growth. The threats out in this world demand a strong answer from those who would survive, and we have no choice but to remain strong. These are simple fact.
What else is fact is that our nation does whatever it wants world wide.
What's fact is that we have gone to war more times than any other nation.
Since WWII how many civilian casualties have we caused, then shrugged off as collateral damage?
In the long run, what good did we do in Vietnam? Iraq? Afghanistan? Somalia? And so on, the list definitely continues. We may have saved a few lives in the moment, at the cost of some of our people, but ultimiately they yielded no significant, lasting good.
We lost in Vietnam, we lost in Iraq and we will ultimately fail in Afghanistan. Long term, open ended occupations do not work, they only build resentment in the local populace by controlling how they must live their lives and forcing a certain type of government on them. A government that is little more than a puppet to the U.S.
Our Nation holds its place in history to be the first, and currently only, to actually use a nuke. We go to war more than any other, we ignore the rest of the world to do whatever we want, and we turn our backs on the Geneva convention. Some of these things may be in the past, but it's not so distant.
Who are we?
Who do we want to be?
We're the self proclaimed moral leader of the world...who use military force far more than anyone else. How many innocents have died by U.S. Bombs? How many children have we killed?
We are the "greatest nation on Earth," that fears refugees, targets an entire religion and is known for going to war.
We are the most dominate military force in history, and that fact does not hold the respect it is due. When we went into Afghanistan we first went to the U.N. and told them what we wanted to do. We had near unanimous support.
When we went into Iraq, again we first went to the U.N. and told them our plan. They unanimously said no. We responded by doing it anyway, basically giving them the finger and proceeding to do what we wanted.
For a nation that constantly boasts both our power and moral superiority, we are far too afraid and far too willing to kill.
We are, indisputably, the most powerful nation in history. We are the most technologically advanced military in the world. We are also the nation that brags, that is prideful and never fails to demand leadership.
Is this what is to be done with our power?
Again I ask, who are we? Who do we want to be? Because right now we are well on our way to becoming the bully of the world, the nation with the most civilian blood on its hands, and the loose cannon that does anything it wants. Is that who we want to be?
Restraint with power is just as important as a strong defense. How much of the world already doesn't favor us because we seem to love war? How many fear they could be our next target? When we go anywhere and do anything we want, who wouldn't fear being on the wrong side of us?
“You're ether with us or against us." Translated, "Get in line or you're next." We literally stood on the world stage and told everyone to do as we say, back us up, or be targeted.
In 1945 we showed the world that we know how to bomb things, and we've been riding that ever since. We leapt straight from WWII into Korea, after Korea we went to Vietnam, and from there into countless small operations around the world.
Our armed forces helped or themselves liberated Europe and much of Asia, in the gulf war we pushed Saddam out of Kuwait and freed them, we respond to natural disaster and provide humanitarian aid around the globe.
We WERE liberators and freedom fighters, now we are becoming the empire with the Devine right to act as we please. We have long been the police of the world that enforces our view of "right" on everyone else.
Let's look at it like this, if china constantly went to war all over the globe, ignored allies and the U.N., killed thousands of innocents through bombings and gave the finger to any who would speak against them...would you trust them? Would you hail them as the leader?
If the U.K. Began to endlessly chant their greatness, declare themselves the greatest nation on Earth endlessly, and proclaimed themselves the Moral leader of the world, wouldn't you find them arrogant?
Why doesn't that apply to us?
Military might, more than anything else in the world, demand a level head and an almost fear in using it. War is an evil our nation has become far too willing to accept, death and killing come too easily.
Have you ever wandered, or heard someone ask, what is the most dangerous thing in the world? Look at what happened after Pearl Harbor and 9/11...the most dangerous thing in the world is the U.S. Looking for revenge.
How has It become unpatriotic to advise restraint? How is it i can be called a terrorist sympathizer simply for advocating less war, while those same people condone the endless bombing campaign of the Middle East that has left thousands of innocent people dead, homeless or orphaned?
Accident or not, the United States has killed thousands of children and shrugged it off as collateral damage. Moral leader of the world, my ass.
Around half our annual budget goes to the military. We as a country spend HALF our GDP on our war machine, yet claim to be the moral leader of the world.
Our men and women in uniform are heroes, no question nor argument from me. Our military is fundamental to continue this nation. Sometimes war is a necessary Evil. These are truths, to be sure.
