WAR - WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING

I’ve gotten to the point where I cringe whenever I hear the word ‘war’. Even when it’s used to seemingly combat something noble sounding such as the war on poverty or the war on hunger. It’s become apparent that all wars cause damage no matter if it’s a figurative war or an actual war. It’s also obvious that when a war is declared on a social problem, the State is announcing a power grab which is going to result in less freedom.

War creates an enemy that must be extinguished by government force. The more broadly defined the enemy is, the bigger the government’s role becomes in eradicating it. And when the government wages war against anything, it’s a cycle that’s nearly impossible to stop. The government creates new agencies, and staffs them with union jobs that depend on never actually winning the wars, but rather only perpetuating them.

When poverty rates climb, there’s a crew of government workers secretly high-fiving that their job is safe. When marijuana legalization measures fail, the police and prison unions celebrate. When America is attacked, the weapons manufacturers rejoice. When all Americans are considered terror suspects, surveillance industry stocks soar. And we pay for it all in treasure and freedom.

This self-fueling cycle is destructive and must end for peace and freedom to expand. That begins with realizing that there is no real enemy, but rather the inflated or imagined creations of the government/corporate power structures that benefit most from war. Never lacking in genuine empathy, most who support funding these social wars also rail against the corporate interests that control Washington, while never realizing they’re one and the same. They feed each other. When one grows fat, so does the other, while the citizen grows skinny and weak.

Here are five wars that must end for peace and freedom to prevail:

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