Ed Schultz again: Is the US Military "neccessary"?

[maxsolomon]

Yesterday I caught a few minutes of Ed Schultz's specious reasoning regarding the Murtha comments that set off a firestorm hereabouts. I couldn't believe i was hearing a "liberal" say that it is only the US military that "keeps us free". That if we had NO military, we'd be invaded or attacked by those who want our stuff. I'm paraphrasing, and I'm certainly no expert on this issue, but Rant On:

Ed, you bonehead, there's a huge difference between a military that is adequate to DEFEND a country, and one who's budget equals that of the next 5 militaries COMBINED. our military is kept huge so that, among other reasons, we can project american power OUTSIDE OUR BORDERS. historically, that's exactly how we've used it. read a goddamn book.

And who EXACTLY is going to INVADE us if we, say, cut our military in half, a third, or even a quarter? Canada? Mexico? Let me list the recent military invasions of sovereign nations by other sovereign nations for you:
1. Iraq invades Kuwait
2. America invades Iraq

that's it. western democracies are not in immediate danger of being overrun by Mongol Hordes. Finland is right next to Russia, and there's not going to be any invasion there.

its not DEFENSIVE force we glorify & fund with the bulk of our tax dollars, its an OFFENSIVE force.

[wryter2000]

1. Schultz has definitely gone off the deep end

I'm staying away from him :scared:, which means I can't turn on my local AAR affiliate but have to stream. Which means I haven't done anything all day but play on DU.

[marylanddem]

2. I suspected that once he won his great battle to be on armed

services radio, he might become even more unbearable. Seems he has.

[Vincardog]

3. big ed = AHOLE

[Peace Patriot]

4. Thanks for this post, maxsolomon! I completely agree!

We have a war in Iraq because we have permitted the creation of this humongous OFFENSIVE military machine--a corporate military machine that should have been, but never was demobilized after WW II--and that exists as a standing temptation to fascists.

An OFFENSIVE military machine that slaughtered upwards of TWO MILLION PEOPLE in Vietnam and Southeast Asia FOR NO GOOD REASON. For war profiteers.

It is an out of control monster, DRIVEN by corporate war profiteers. It has no purpose other than to manufacture wars that keep the pork coming in.

It's called "the defense establishment." When was the last time it truly "defended" us?

They couldn't even defend the Pentagon and our nation's capitol on 9/11!

The military budget needs to be cut by about 90%, and expenditures and policy completely reconfigured into a truly defensive posture.

Enough is enough!

Democrats like Schultz (I call them War Democrats) are being driven by economic imperatives, in my opinion. Our economy is hogtied to military contractors. They have us by the throat. It has nothing to do with patriotism, in my view. It's partly corrupt--on the part of many Democrats--and partly an inability to imagine or create anything different. It's become very clear that an outmoded attachment to this huge OFFENSIVE military machine is destroying our democracy, and that true patriotism today is not patriotism for aggressive war, but patriotism for the Constitution, patriotism for the curtailment of executive power, and for the rule of laws not men.

Patriotism for the right to vote, and the right NOT to have corporate, "trade secret," proprietary programming code, owned and controlled by Bushites, tabulating our votes. Patriotism for transparent elections. Patriotism for the will of the people--58% of whom OPPOSED the war in Iraq way back in Feb. 2003, before the invasion. 58%! 63% of whom oppose torture "under any circumstances." (May 2004). And the great majority of whom oppose every major Bush policy, foreign and domestic, way up in the 60% to 70% range, and have for some time.

Patriotism for democracy. Patriotism for American Revolution II. Patriotism for a peaceful and lawful and generous America, where everybody gets a fair shake, for real. Patriotism for American's peaceful and lawful and cooperative behavior in the world. Patriotism that fosters creativity and ingenuity, and not decadent and militaristic toadyism. Real patriotism, based on our origins and history, not on some fascist dream of domination and riches.

We should have dismantled this out of control military machine after the Vietnam War. We did not. Now it's going to be even harder to accomplish. But that's what we must do--after we restore our right to vote, if we are able. to.