Militarism and Its Consequences

Yes, I know I said my beat was usually going to be the environment. Key word there might be "usually." I've been thinking all day about Buddagem's post here on The Blue Voice this morning, "The Myth of War," and about various comments on thinking like his from some posters on both Blogspot and AOL. Comments, I hasten to add, that greatly disagree with Buddagem and his stance against war. I left a comment on Dave's entry directing him and any interested readers to a new book, The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, by Andrew Bacevich. Professor Bacevich is a West Point grad, a Viet Nam vet, and currently teaches in the Department of International Relations at Boston University. Prof. Bacevich does not think the new American militarism is a good thing.

War is a complex issue, and I do not pretend to have any authority on what might be a just war - assuming there is such a thing - or not. I do know that what is happening today is not in any way a just war. The fact that in our current climate "war" of one sort or another is becoming a fact of life is something that we all should start noticing. When a commenter on my AOL journal could suggest that we station troops at our borders with Mexico and Canada, we have indeed become a nation of military madness.

Another author who has written quite convincingly on the dangers of living with a perpetual military presence, leading to Empire, is Chalmers Johnson. In his essay "The Scourge of Militarism," he gives a brief history of the Roman Empire, some unavoidable comparisons with the current Pentagonization of our government, and his fears for what may happen to this country in the not-too-distant future. Here follow some excerpts from Johnson's essay, but the entire thing is a history lesson well worth taking the time to follow.

"The militarism that inescapably accompanied Rome's imperial projects slowly undermined its constitution as well as the very considerable political and human rights its citizens enjoyed. The American republic, of course, has not yet collapsed; it is just under considerable strain as the imperial presidency -- and its supporting military legions -- undermine Congress and the courts. However, the Roman outcome -- turning over power to an autocracy backed by military force and welcomed by ordinary citizens because it seemed to bring stability -- suggests what might happen in the years after Bush and his neoconservatives are thrown out of office...

...These not-particularly-original comparisons are inspired by the current situation of the United States, with its empire of well over 725 military bases located in other people's countries; its huge and expensive military establishment demanding ever more pay and ever larger appropriations from a supine and manipulated legislature; unsolved anthrax attacks on senators and newsmen (much like Rome's perennial assassinations); Congress's gutting of the Bill of Rights through the panicky passage of the Patriot Act -- by votes of 76-1 in the Senate and 337 to 79 in the House; and numerous signs that the public is indifferent to what it is about to lose. Many current aspects of our American government suggest a Roman-like fatigue with republican proprieties. After Congress voted in October 2002 to give the president unrestricted power to use any means, including military force and nuclear weapons, in a preventive strike against Iraq whenever he -- and he alone -- deemed it "appropriate," it would be hard to argue that the constitution of 1787 was still the supreme law of the land. "

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