Laying Down Of Arms

Promises.

A few days ago the Obama administration announced plans to implement austerity measures in the military which would reduce the standing American force in personnel to levels below those of pre-World War II. This is Obama doing exactly what he promised, ending wars, reducing military spending, and focusing on the domestic agenda. But nobody really seems to care. Or rather, the conservative right and those with a vested interested in continuing the expansion of the military industrial complex care, but their whining that these cuts will reduce them to still being the biggest and best prepared military in the world, just a leaner version, are hard to have sympathy for. The truth is, this is huge. This is massive news for anyone interested in foreign policy, social welfare, or peace. This is a quiet revolution spearheaded by the White House to shift our paradigm from war mongering and diplomacy by force to...well, none of us know do we? What would a United States without major warfare look like? Can any of us picture it? How will we make out money? Will we go back to growing our own food and valuing crafts people and educators? It seems unlikely. What Obama is doing is giving us a chance to reshape a small part of our economy and ourselves. Let's do something useful with it.

Picture:
www.archives.gov
  

The War Dead

Memorial.

While it may be a lauded American tradition to take to the woods with our RV's, barbecues, and beer over the Memorial Day weekend, this year, according to the AAA three percent less of us actually did so.  Perhaps it was the weather, the high price of gas, or simply our 21st Century disconnect from the outdoors, but AAA was right, the campgrounds were ghost towns this weekend.  What were hopping though, were the  postage-stamp sized cemetery's of our rural communities.  This weekend those tiny memorials overflowed with blooms, family's, and babes in arms being taught to pay their respects.  I saw clutches of older men in lawn chairs circling the grave site of a lost war buddy and mothers and daughters standing silent at the foot of their solider husbands and fathers.  

We are a military-driven industrial complex.  For whatever reasons we have, as a culture, become decidedly and increasingly violent in our approach to globalization and the procurement and protection of our way of life.  We pay for these things in people.

The American Military War Dead:

Major U.S. War Casualties	U.S. Deaths	Wounded	Date
Iraq War	4,800	31,965	2003 – 2011
Afghanistan	1,803	9,971	2001 – Present
Gulf War	258	849	1990 – 1991
Vietnam War	58,209	153,303	1955 – 1975
Korean War	36,516	92,134	1950 – 1953
World War II	405,399	670,846	1941 – 1945
World War I	116,516	204,002	1917 – 1918
Civil War	625,000	281,881	1861 – 1865
American Revolutionary War	25,000	25,000	1775 – 1783
All U.S. Conflict Casualites	U.S Deaths	Wounded	Missing
Grand Total	1,343,812	1,529,230	38,159

References/Photograph:

 http://www.statisticbrain.com/u-s-war-death-statistics/

http://historyofeconomics.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/american-exceptionalism/