Is America Addicted to War?

[Mosaic]

Question: Are we addicted to war? How come we never actually bother about the cost of war in relationship to deficit?

Paul Solman: "Addicted to war"? It does seem to be a rather time-honored human activity. Jeffrey Klein, twice editor of Mother Jones magazine, among his many journalistic stewardships, has been working on a theory about group bellicosity as an especially human trait. Klein hypothesizes that this may explain the extinction of our close hominid relatives, the Neanderthals. In a word: genocide. See this Time magazine article for a similar argument. And here's one on organized violence among chimpanzees:

But what do you mean that we never actually bother about the cost? Many people have pointed out that the tab for post-9/11 wars has grown to the size of a king's ransom, and added significantly to the outsized annual deficits we've run ever since Bill Clinton left office. This is a story we've been covering since before the Iraq War even began, when Yale economist William Nordhaus did an estimate of such a conflict's prospective costs.

We then followed up twice, in 2007 and again on the war's fifth anniversary in 2008. And here's a story we did with Undersecretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert Hormats and Nobel laureate economist Joe Stiglitz, among others, about the war's economic toll in human terms.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/11/is-america-addicted-to-war.html

[Junkdrawer]

1. Addicted to Empire, which requires War from time-to-time....

so that its threats are taken seriously.

[backtoblue]

2. Americans in general aren't, but our "leaders" sure do go looking for a fight...

[That1202Anarchist]

10. Money money money...

Yeah, our leaders do strive for war.. But one of the main causes for them advocating war is MONEY... Money drives the media machines... Coming up with excuses for starting useless wars with other third world countries, those excuses brainwash or "fool" many into thinking that America is actually in severe or great danger.. But as "Ron Paul" and many others have stated.. The "War on Terrorism" is greatly over dramatized and exaggerated.. Those over dramatizations are the main cause for the majority of the Americans who support war.. They constantly hear biased one sided stories that advocate the support of War.. At which they then believe that we need to supply more fundings toward war, so that we can win.. When it's truly not that bad.. Funding of these military operations really should be cut by a large proportion.. But if you were to ask any of the officials about why we need this, they'll say something such as. "National Interest" or "National Security"... Which in all honesty, we're not in severe danger, and our security is well managed, we don't need billions of dollars put forth for our security.. We need the billions of dollars to help create jobs! To put Americans back to work, yes the government does give loans to certain business... Keyword "Certain" which is a "subsidy", favoring one business or field over another.. Which yes I know I have prior said that they should cut the military funding and create jobs, which is a subsidy, but that is one subsidy that I completely agree with.. We need more Americans in the work force, we need less Americans dying overseas... ((( That's my opinion )))..

[redqueen]

13. I don't know...

Many people seem to be fond of entertainment which glorifies war. They also seem to be very quick to believe that war is necessary, and very angry at anyone who dares to question any of the excuses made for it.

[blindpig]

3. War is good for capitalism.

What more ya need to know?

[redqueen]

4. Not only that, our economy is based on it.

Nothing will change until that changes. An end to the cultural acceptability of the glorification of war is also necessary IMO.

[Kalidurga]

5. Yes....

Sort of. Not every individual, probably not even most. But, enough that have access to everyone's money to keep it going.

[gratuitous]

6. Yes

And to listen to the folks with their blood-stained hands on the levers of power, we always will be. Get used to it. Learn to live with it, if not to love it. War defines the United States, and without it we wouldn't exist. We'll burn the Constitution before we give up war. In fact, we already have.

[Uncle Joe]

7. No, in the words of the great philosopher Robert Palmer

America is "Addicted to Love" we just happen to be brutal lovers.

Thanks for the thread, Mosaic.

[Octafish]

8. Addicted? Try "Hard-Wired."

Know your BFEE: Spawn of Wall Street and the Third Reich

"It does seem to be a rather time-honored human activity."

Thanks, Mosaic and PBS! At least someone with an FCC license is trying.

[hifiguy]

9. The MIC is a strung out junkie always looking

for the next fix to keep the profits flowing.

[kenny blankenship]

11. Reagan set us on the trajectory to an economic addiction to war. His bellicosity set the tone

and his economic policies--hollowing out manufacturing by free trade agreements, asserting govt indifference to the plight of workers, buying every weapon system defense contractors could devise-- did the rest. It is politely referred to as militarized Keynesianism (the generation of economic demand by military spending and warfare, since peaceful and domestic forms of stimulus spending are ideologically unacceptable). There are more descriptive and evocative names for this system, but we're not to mention them at this site. Of course like anything that gets that much money thrown at it, it acquires its own dynamic and a life of its own. The tonic for a stalled economy soon takes over the patient's will power, and next thing you know you're embroiled in wars from the western slopes of the Himalayas to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Or invading Western Europe and Russia simultaneously.

[GoCubsGo]

12. No, but some Americans are.

Many of us DO "bother about the cost of war in relationship to the deficit." We also bother about the cost of war on human lives. Others don't, and unfortunately, they seem to be the ones who have all the say in the matter.

[Taverner]

14. We've been at war since Pearl Harbor got bombed...

And haven't stopped being at war since....

Sounds like an addict to me

[That1202Anarchist]

17. History shows more..

The United States of America has been through war since it's very beginning... From the Revolutionary War to today... There's not been many distinct times throughout our history that we have not been in some sort of war...

1801 1805 First Barbary War United States
Sweden (until 1802) Ottoman Empire Barbary States
Ottoman Empire


1810 1811 Tecumseh's War
Part of the War of 1812 United States
Chief Black Hoof Tecumseh's Confederacy



1812 1815 War of 1812 British Empire
United States
1845 1875 Texas-Indian Wars United States
Texas Texas Rangers Comanche
Kiowa

1846 1848 Mexican-American War United States Mexican Empire

1847 1855 Cayuse War United States Cayuse


1850 1865 California Indian Wars United States Miwok
Yokut
Cahuilla
Cupeno
Quechan
Yurok
Karuk
Tolowa
Nomlaki
Chimariko
Wintun
Hupa
Tsnungwe
Wiyot
Whilkut

1851 1900 Apache Wars United States (1851–1900)
Confederate States of America Confederate States (1861–1865) Apache tribes

1855 1858 Yakima War United States Yakama
1855 1856 Rogue River Wars United States Rogue River
1855 1855 Battle of Ash Hollow United States Brulé Sioux
1855 1856 Puget Sound War United States Nisqually
Muckleshoot
Puyallup
Klickitat
Haida
Tlingit
1855 1867 Punti–Hakka Clan Wars
1855 1858 Third Seminole War
part of the Seminole Wars United States Seminole Tribes

1855 1858 Third Seminole War
part of the Seminole Wars United States Seminole Tribes

1860 1873 Paiute War United States Paiute tribes

1861 1865 American Civil War United States United States of America Confederate States of America

---
I'm done listing wars, but that's just part of the 1800s.. America does not know how to stay out of war!!
It's like a chemical addiction.

[Taverner]

20. Very true...

[PufPuf23]

15. The USA is a global military empire and will be until we are brought down like a mad dog.

There is nothing more harmful to the planet, life, and humans than war.

There is nothing more wasteful of lives, natural resources, and human achievement than war.

There is nothing more evil in nature than human war.

We teach our children to glorify war and violence in toys and entertainment.

[That1202Anarchist]

19. That's as true as it gets...

Sadly that is as true as it gets.... As many that wish that war would stop, war keeps going on.. It will probably never end...

[Mosaic]

22. Thanks for your reply, I agree

Thank you PufPuf23, your reply is the only one that most closely aligns with my way of thinking. Kudos.

[dtexdem]

16. No: it can quit any time that it wants to.

It just doesn't want to. ;-)

[krabigirl]

18. Yes, but thankfully, all empires eventually meet their end.

[Bonhomme Richard]

21. Defense spending has been driving this economy for decades.

Yes, you do need a war, or at least a barbarian at the gate so people go along.
I have also noticed that we put soldiers on some kind of pedestal which I think is a bit out of whack with the rest of the civilized world.

[KamaAina]

23. "We are the political playthings of a society gone mad on war."

-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.