More on Patriotism and God

I want to talk about three things, country, soldiers and religion.

Country, it is merely land with imaginary borders. The borders of countries are not fixed, look at history. We are indoctrinated with a concept of us versus them, of division. It is an illusion. More than anything else, countries are separations of political forms and economic interests. For the past two hundred years our border with Canada has barely existed. It was the longest unguarded border in the world and it was not a problem.

I am against globalism as it is preached, I am also against believing that the mere fact that someone was born in another country makes them less deserving. If you are working for minimum wage digging trenches are you that different from someone doing the same job in Mexico? Wars are not fought between countries, they tell us they are; but, they really are not. Wars are fought by average citizens for the benefit of those who control us in our own country.

We are in Iraq because of oil, which the people here have to pay more for to pay for the war. If you want to find out about Vietnam, start by reading about the Gulf of Tonkin. Most wars are for the wrong reasons and the populace is lied to. They accept the lie to sooth their guilt. Few of the soldiers in Iraq think we should be there.

Young men and women join the service for many reasons. Some were drafted, some join to become "men", some join for an education, some to have a job and some because they are patriotic. Just because someone was a soldier does not mean they are patriotic. We credit all of them with that; but, it is not the truth.

The single most impactful thing that a government does is go to war; but, the government doesn't go to war, poor people do. What is even more horrifying is the average age of soldiers worldwide. Children as young as 10 are soldiers around the world. Many couldn't spell the word patriotic.

My original post was NOT directed at American soldiers, it was directed soldiers and church, I will explain better when I get to the part about religion. War is not to be praised, we can appreciate the courage and good intentions of those who fought under the belief that they were being patriotic and I do; however, that does not mean that I must agree with war, any war. I have come to believe that Gandhi's was the best.

In college I had a friend, he had been forced into the military at 14 and sent to Mozambique. He watched pregnant women be bayoneted, he witnessed it. He was in the Portuguese army. He deserted because he couldn't participate in it any more, was he unpatriotic? We glorify war way too much. We talk about war in terms of the soldier who jumped on the hand grenade and ignore the atrocities done on every side.

The issue is not someone's uncle, brother, cousin or even themselves. It is about war. It is about putting a bullet in someone's head and watching it split, their brains spill out and their life end so that Exxon can make more money. I have known way to many soldiers who 40 and 50 years later still could not bring themselves to discuss what they had seen or done. Too many come away from war knowing that we should not have been there.

As for God, he said that he who lives by the sword shall die by the sword. That doesn't sound like we should make it a way of life. Our appreciation for individuals who believe they are protecting their family should not be used to justify the politicians and industrial companies getting our families to do the fighting for the benefit of the politicians and companies.

A simple question, if the citizens or soldiers got to vote on when to go to war, would we have more wars or fewer? The war we are in right now is so wrong that the government is fearful of ex-soldiers becoming terrorists after returning to the United States. That is contained in a pamphlet distributed by the FBI to local authorities. The government is afraid of the soldiers who are patriotic, what does that say about the war?

How many sons and daughters of your congressional members are fighting in Iraq, last I heard was one. How patriotic is your congress?

I read too many posts across the net from fools calling for us to "bomb into nonexistence" whatever country annoys them. I have read Muslims and Americans say kill them all. They do not even stop to think, "them all", includes children who just want to grow up. Knee jerk morons who risk nothing. They incite rather than solve. Then comes justification afterwards, we say "we thought he had weapons of mass destruction" or "he would have had them eventually" or whatever garbage takes the guilt away.

War is not a video game, it is not an adventure movie and it is not glorious. The sooner we stop looking at it in that manner and the more likely we are to be more cautious before engaging in it.

As far as my church goes. Non-active ex-military people should not be in uniform in the church. The church should not support war. If the church wishes to support SOLDIERS, then it should go to the Veterans Hospital and support them or raise money for them and their families, not glorify the idea of being a soldier, not promote war.

When the Iraq war began, there were many reservists who said they didn't think they would be asked to go to war, they were just trying to make some money on the weekends. Anytime you train to use a gun to KILL people you better figure you may be asked to.

I was one of those brainwashed, patriotic kids. I was Navy ROTC, wrote on "Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman" in Law School and was offered a commission in the military. Hey, I was all set to be a professional soldier. What changed my mind over the years was talking to people in the military. The story from all of them was pretty much the same, war is a bad idea and usually done for the wrong reasons. Many remained patriotic but disgusted with how the wars were conducted.