So... ISIS is now calling for attacks on the US. Could it be, perhaps, because Americans have been shooting our mouth off about them literally being from Hell for months? Did we really expect them to play it cool whilst our President announced officially that we wanted to destroy them?
Not that it will help President Obama to get his swagger on, anyway. A new report is showing that Republican, and NOT Democratic favorability is on the rise, back up to a level not seen since they orchestrated the ridiculous government shutdown in 2013. Indeed, it seems that Republicans poll much better when the army starts notching its bayonets, so to speak.
Let that soak in for a moment: one of our country's two major political parties, a party that sees massive investment from the military industrial sphere of influence, will actually see more people view them favorably if they pound the drum for war. They want war: war will help them win elections, war will help them gain political power, and war will line their pockets beyond a regular person's wildest dreams.
But it's still war. War Is Hell.
Why on Earth do we, the American people, continue to shore up the Republicans when they clamor for war? We have so much evidence that they simply do not care if the war is a success, only if they can profit from it. Why do we keep supporting them, running to them for protection when they are the very people profiting from, and begging to start the war in the first place?
Something about this doesn't make sense.
During the first Gilded Age, we used to have Robber Barons of steel and oil and rail, men who went through any means necessary to enrich themselves in their chosen industry. With the growth of the military-industrial complex over the past fifty years, we have a whole new generation of people who profit specifically on demanding war being the solution for any and all foreign problems (and, in the case of Ferguson, domestic problems as well), all the while getting fat on the sacrifice of brave and honest American men and women who just want to defend the country they love.
We used to have Robber Barons. Now we have Murder Barons.
I wrote recently about how you can stabilize foreign trouble much more effectively with the proverbial honey than the proverbial vinegar. As trite as it may sound, war is not always the answer. So, the question remains: how many more will die needlessly for the interests of a moneyed few?
*Originally published at Generation Extant dot com on 9/22/2014