Our Military Spending and Spiritual Death

Thanks Stein.
The ethos that bothers me most is the one within the body of the organized Christian Church in the U.S..

Spot on. Walk the talk. Support the few folks in congress who have consistantly said these things (Babara Lee, Dennis Kusinch plus a few more....some got voted out:()...find our voices and stand up and be counted. I'm speaking to myself as well as others.

Duane Shank speaks to the deprivations of the human soul that come from militarism aided and abetted by corporation insatiable need to compete on a global scale using force,cunning and inhuman advances in military technology to gain an edge over villagers defending their lands, cultures and lives with small caliber weapons.

What Duane says is true. Americans seem obsessed with military superiority as the backing of their nations currency,alliances and full spectrum dominance of other nations and their peoples.

Not giving in to the temptation to stereotype, I do qualify mt own and Duane's observations by saying that not all Americans think this way But to be sure those in the Pentagons DARPA program do according to Nick Turse and his most recent work available for review at Tomsdispatch website. To be specific militarists whose works involve new weapons programs are imbued with a fearful sense about them as regards competition for dominance of air , land and seas where battles, spying operations and the tactical weaponry they design appropriate and deploy exhibit their fears in 3 dimensions.

What needs to be said and with the calm delivery of a confident and faithful preachers nod to God as the force behind his preaching is this; Faith is the absence of fear and conversely fear is said to be the absence of faith so Dr. Martin Luther Kind was and yet is correct to say that a nation which consumes it's taxpayers coffers in machinery that kills people or ruins their lives by destroying infrastructures, stealing lands and invading privacy is steeped in the fears of corporatism which regards domination of the earth over the care and feeding of it's peoples and the observation and respect of their basic human rights is approaching spiritual death.

Turn the other cheek ,we are taught, is the Christian way, which offers the abuser of human rights the disgrace of abusing with his other hand the beautiful face of a poverty stricken and hapless and defenseless nation or person.

The United States has over one hundred military bases in one nation, Japan, which is an occupation with military tactical weapons on others soils, imperiling their children land and seas with the elements of destruction, actually using the Japanese people as human sheilds for their destructive armaments. Israel is another case in point. A people known widely to revere the trust in God as their faith based protection is armed with weapons of mass destruction now, many of which are made in the USA and as the Pentagon avers are cached there, using the Jewish people as a dare to their supposed enemies,attack here and kill the Jews, which is using the Jewish people as human shields protecting the Pentagons base and foundation in the region from which they threaten other nation with lesser means to protect their populations.

I speak not so much for God, whom has a voice much clearer than mine, but in God;s defense of faith, which is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. If as human beings we count on heavy weapons which kill people as our deterrent force to supposed enemies are we not pitting fear against faith and voting for fear if we have to have such a threatening and uncivil force of destruction of life to protect life? Why are others lives less dear to God than our own we should ask, Does God feel this way, does God value the lives of the heavily armed and dangerous over the unarmed and defenseless? I would aver not, nor would Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha or any sane prophet or follower of love as the basic countenance of God.

Those who spend thriftily on humanity and the needs of the poor,disabled and service members returning from war and use the excuse that they are protecting the borders of their specific state, while wasting ever more vast sums of their peoples national investment on weapons which serve as deterrent against lesser armed "enemies" are not following God's commandments but breaking them blatantly and we are taught in both spiritual and material ways that this is horrid waste of human efforts on the wiles of demons of war, too self absorbed in their powers of death to promote the grace of God as their protector.

Where is investment made wisely, with the whole of humanity as it's affectionate and compassionate outreach and goal, in unimaginably heinous deployment of weapons of war , deception and subversion of human rights, or in the faithful's needs to feel comfort from their toils and hard work? What comfort comes from such wasteful expenditures of weapons of destruction, to whom and why, and whom advocated against such filthy robed gangs of armed robbers?

Nations which waste their peoples taxes destroying nations, killing their peoples and bombing their schools, churches and houses filled with children or incite wars by murdering leaders, scientists and lovers of their own brand of faith destroy not others but invite their own spiritual death, after having been warned of this trap for millenniums. These militarist corporate camps and their campers are fear based idol worshipers of the gun, and their reward is temporal, the meek will inherit the earth we are taught and so it will be.

Too many of us (US citizens) acquiesced to the initial invasion of Afghanistan and the declaration of the "War on Terror" without thinking through what that meant. Instead of treating the attack on 9/11 as a criminal act the USA decided to wage war on a tactic. The nation whole-heartedly agreed and if one was to object to the context of our reprisals one was either called a traitor, "You hate our freedoms!" or met with derision, "You must be French!" When the Bush administration used fear rhetoric to justify their invasion of Iraq the floodgates were opened. At bottom, the War in Iraq is and was designed to transfer the nation's wealth from the public coffers into the pockets of the military contracting corporations. Now that we have come to the reckoning for the profligate war spending and the Grand Theft Economy, the financial industry and other entities responsible for the situation are now calling for "fiscal discipline." Whenever one hears the term "entitlement reform" that means cutting the safety net for the "least of these."

We need to stop acting as if the U.S. were the Morality Thought Police of the World. We need to stop invading countries as if we have the sovereign right over them to "spread freedom" with military force.

Playing contrarian for a moment, while I agree that military spending can be cut, if we're really serious about addressing deficit spending, shouldn't we also tread really carefully when it comes to social spending too? After all, it really should be shared sacrifice.

Speaking of which, I read recent reports about how Japan's debt rating may get downgraded soon, because it is too big. If such happens, there are supposed to be serious negative ripples throughout the world. So deficit reduction really is important, and there are finite resources to go around.

Finally, let's not make going to government aid the knee-jerk solution to the poverty problem. (Yes, government aid probably has an important role, but it shouldn't play the only or even dominant role in poverty alleviation.)

Jim Wallis' incomplete numbers make it sound like the U.S. government is spending much more on defense than on people. A cursory look at the 2010 U.S. federal outlays show that is not so. I found these numbers online at the census bureau: 868 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services. 683 billion for Social Security. 209 billion for the Labor Dept., etc. For the Department of Defense? 692 billion. The U.S. Government spends much, much more on people than it does on weapons, contrary to what Jim Wallis implies in his piece. We can help those people in poverty by government programs that encourage marriage and discourages divorce, makes tax changes to encourage private industry to create jobs, and give significant tax credits and vouchers so the poor can go to the schools of their choice, and not be forced to go to inferior public schools dominated by coercive teachers' unions. We need to have a Biblical vision to help the poor, and prophetically speak against the liberal programs that have failed them in the past. Do we really want to help the poor, or maintain a failed governmental system that claims that it helps the poor?

Minnesotan trots out Social Security as an example of government expenditures. It is true that the government is a channel for SS outlays, but SS consistently brings in more revenue than it puts out. Ergo, Social Security does not and never has contributed to the federal deficit.

I observe that there is not much activity on this thread. Is this because we all understand it or we all are afraid of what it means for the future of the christian church. And yet there are over two hundred posts about gays? Wow. It is no wonder that folks call themselves spiritual and avoid being called religious. Perhaps they don't want to be connected to christendom or is that christian doom.

As a follow up to minnesotan, governments and corporations are not inherently bad, they are made up of people. It is the heart desire of those people that determines there action. This country is in need of a great spiritual awakening, and I fear that the organized christian church is not up to the task. I thank God for the individuals that Know and work for the truth, in and out of the political church.

Some wisdom from Ron Paul and Ralph Nader. These two don't usually agree on a lot. But they agree on this: the connection between corporatism and war .

http://www.fff.org/comment/com...

Relevant excerpts:
------------------
What is American politics coming to? I just watched a joint interview with Ralph Nader and Rep. Ron Paul - and they were mostly on the same side! Nader has spent his life promoting government intervention in the economy. Paul has spent his life promoting the free market and minimal government. For the two of them to discuss making common cause is something extraordinary.

And yet it makes total sense. What's so exciting is that their common cause shines the spotlight right where it's needed: on corporatism - the constellation of government policies that primarily benefit wealthy and well-connected business and banking interests at the expense of the rest of us. While much of the Right Wing sees the danger of the Obama administration in Marxism and state socialism, Paul and Nader realize that that makes no sense. Bill Daley, Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, Paul Volcker, and Jeff Immelt are not the men a Marxist would pick as advisors. But they are the picks of a president who believes that economic stability can exist only if government and major businesses manage the economy together. Corporatism is the opposite of free markets, competition, and full individual liberty.

Paul and Nader are also united in their opposition to America's imperialist policies and perpetual overt and covert wars, which, in truth, is also part of the corporate state. Foreign wars and world policing may not be solely motivated by economic interests, but they play a big role. Writer Nick Turse documents that the military-industrial complex is more pervasive than ever. The "defense" budget is a gigantic trough at which American companies can feast at taxpayer expense. Why take risks on new and better products for consumers, when the government will pay top tax dollar to pay for you make bombs, rockets, and Humvees?

Along with the imperial state come domestic surveillance and other destruction of civil liberties - all of which Paul and Nader despise. The horrendous USA PATRIOT Act is a prime target for both men.

"governments and corporations are not inherently bad, they are made up of people. It is the heart desire of those people that determines their action. .... I thank God for the individuals that Know and work for the truth, in and out of the political church."

Please tread carefully here. I think there are many examples of organizations staffed by people with good intensions, yet they do harm. E.g. a corporation in a competitive market may have Christian officers who nonetheless feel compelled to be cutthroat or else they will be out of business. There is a "principality and power" dimension to organizations that cannot always be reduced to "individuals that Know and work for the truth". So what do I mean? Simply that our conceptualizations must reflect realities of communities as well as individuals.

The title of this article is "Our military spending and spiritual death". When do we begin to apply Christian principals to our lives. If we are continually saying I must compromise my values or I'll be out of business or invaded or killed, What good is faith? Where do we begin to stand fast before 'principalities and powers'? What good have we done for the Iraqis specifically? Tens of thousands have been killed because of USA foreign policy and military actions. Why aren't we in the streets? Why Do we have a military presence in 175 countries and territories? At home, why is the FBI invading the homes of citizens who are active on the Anti-war Committee.

Because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all of the monies spent on them, we are having Veterans of those wars who are not only physically wounded, they are psychologically/spiritually wounded, too.

The government needs to do more about all of the "hell" that a Veteran has to go through to prove that they need financial help from the Veterans Affairs and medical/mental help from the Veterans Administration.

I rarely use "hell" in a slang sense in everyday speech; but, I am a US Army and Vietnam Veteran and I am having to prove to the the 2 departments of the VA mentioned above that I have health problems related to being in Nam and war-zone related bouts with PTSD.

I fought a paper war in Nam as a Clerk-Typist for JAG officers and now I am fighting a paper war with too much red tape to get all of the benefits which I know that I am qualified for.

I hertitate to even think this - but money equals power - and if one group of people, in this case the US Military receives all this "power" - is it possible that the next step is that this "power" says "We know how to run our country better than the politicians"?

For too many years now, military budgets have been out of control. The monies spent to fight our wards are astronomical compared to the support our returning veterans receive. Until we as a nation decide whether we want to support our citizens or support the military at the expense of our citizens, and demand action from our representatives, we won't see any change.

Dr. King was right, and the evidence is all around us. We sacrifice our schools, our children and our working class citizens so that "defense" contractors will be enriched, and politicians will be re-elected because they "support our troops."

Want to really support our troops? Bring them home, stop deploying them everywhere in the name of fighting terrorism, and give our citizens real hope! And support our veterans, who bear the scars of our warlike nature throughout their lives.

Christians in America need to quit arguing about "just war" and all the theories which try to justify our military actions, and start demanding that America stand for something other than war and war machinery. We are the world's largest exported of warfare and it's implements...hardly a symbol of hope to the world!

Pray For Peace And Dare To Act!

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(Or, should we substitute "offense" for "defense"?)

It is time we as a group de constructed what is meant by "Morality thought Police" or similar expressions which describe the motivations and activities of the USA.

I suspect that in the cold light of day, together with the realisation that the USA numerically is only a very small subset of the total human population (> 6.5 bill and growing) on this planet many both inside and out side the USA. would suggest that "How did so few corrupt so many?"

Too many of us (US citizens) acquiesced to the initial invasion of Afghanistan and the declaration of the "War on Terror" without thinking through what that meant. Instead of treating the attack on 9/11 as a criminal act the USA decided to wage war on a tactic. The nation whole-heartedly agreed and if one was to object to the context of our reprisals one was either called a traitor, "You hate our freedoms!" or met with derision, "You must be French!" When the Bush administration used fear rhetoric to justify their invasion of Iraq the floodgates were opened. At bottom, the War in Iraq is and was designed to transfer the nation's wealth from the public coffers into the pockets of the military contracting corporations. Now that we have come to the reckoning for the profligate war spending and the Grand Theft Economy, the financial industry and other entities responsible for the situation are now calling for "fiscal discipline." Whenever one hears the term "entitlement reform" that means cutting the safety net for the "least of these."

Amen. The psychologically/spiritually wounded men and women who return from war suffer almost unnoticed (until something tragic happens). My heart breaks for them......especially since they mostly don't want to ask for help (or even admit they need it). Human spirits are not formed to kill, no matter the circumstances or justifications.,

A great General and President once forewarned us about this. Thank you Mr. Eisenhower. Sadly, it's no longer a Democratic or Republican issue. Both sides of the aisle have bowed down at the altar of the military industrial complex.

However, that still doesn't mean that we can't cut the defense budget, which some analysts say we need only about half of. And BTW, "liberal" programs really do help the poor; vouchers, because of their limited nature, cannot.

Close all foreign bases. Bring all the troops home. Point the guns out. Open the borders. Justice.

Minnesotan quit bring facts in to this . This is a liberal blog . Open up borders, throw down our guns , peace will follow .

Some wisdom from Ron Paul and Ralph Nader. These two don't usually agree on a lot. But they agree on this: the connection between corporatism and war .

http://www.fff.org/comment/com...

Relevant excerpts:
------------------
What is American politics coming to? I just watched a joint interview with Ralph Nader and Rep. Ron Paul - and they were mostly on the same side! Nader has spent his life promoting government intervention in the economy. Paul has spent his life promoting the free market and minimal government. For the two of them to discuss making common cause is something extraordinary.

And yet it makes total sense. What's so exciting is that their common cause shines the spotlight right where it's needed: on corporatism - the constellation of government policies that primarily benefit wealthy and well-connected business and banking interests at the expense of the rest of us. While much of the Right Wing sees the danger of the Obama administration in Marxism and state socialism, Paul and Nader realize that that makes no sense. Bill Daley, Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, Paul Volcker, and Jeff Immelt are not the men a Marxist would pick as advisors. But they are the picks of a president who believes that economic stability can exist only if government and major businesses manage the economy together. Corporatism is the opposite of free markets, competition, and full individual liberty.

Paul and Nader are also united in their opposition to America's imperialist policies and perpetual overt and covert wars, which, in truth, is also part of the corporate state. Foreign wars and world policing may not be solely motivated by economic interests, but they play a big role. Writer Nick Turse documents that the military-industrial complex is more pervasive than ever. The "defense" budget is a gigantic trough at which American companies can feast at taxpayer expense. Why take risks on new and better products for consumers, when the government will pay top tax dollar to pay for you make bombs, rockets, and Humvees?

Along with the imperial state come domestic surveillance and other destruction of civil liberties - all of which Paul and Nader despise. The horrendous USA PATRIOT Act is a prime target for both men.