Before you descend upon me with the fullness of your patriotic wrath for the title of this blog, hear me out for at least a few sentences. I don’t hate the troops. I don’t think they’re all evil. As far as sacrificing for my life and liberty, I appreciate the sentiment. I foster no ill will toward those in the military, and in fact the people I know in the military are some of the most virtuous people I know.
I support the troops. I support them the best way I know how: by exposing the true nature of military service, so current and future potential soldiers have an opportunity to make more informed decisions. I want people to understand that it’s possible to support the troops while not supporting the mission. I want people to know what the mission is.
Most people are under the impression that soldiers are putting their lives on the line to preserve and protect life and liberty, and to shine the light of democracy into the dark corners of civilization. This misconception is understandable. The propaganda campaign begins at birth, and gets daily reinforcement in school, at home, and on television. It takes a shrewd logical analysis to discern the true nature of military service, and even then it’s not easy to accept in the face of such powerful conditioning.
I have never been threatened by anyone in the Middle East. I have never been threatened by anyone in Germany, or Japan, or South Korea, where the majority of our troops are stationed overseas. Do you mean to tell me that if our military were not stationed in these countries, I would somehow be in greater danger of losing my life or liberty? I am in danger of losing my life and liberty, but not from some foreign terrorist or government. The greatest threat to my life and liberty is the United States government.
Don’t mistake this for a typical paranoid anarchist rant; it’s simply true. Foreign terrorists have no ability to arrest me, and I’m nine times more likely to die at the hands of police than I am to be killed by terrorists. Foreign governments don’t steal whatever percentage of my income that they deem fair, and fine me, arrest me, or imprison me if I give them the wrong amount.
Well, maybe the current wars are not justified, but surely there have been times the military protected us, right? What about World War 2? Wasn’t that justified? No.
Of course the Nazis committed atrocities. Of course I’m glad for all the life that was preserved by ending the war. I’m not even going to argue whether or not the U.S. should have gotten involved, because that’s not the question. The question is, did the U.S. involvement act to preserve the life and liberty of its citizens?
“Wait!” You may say, “Hitler had plans to invade America!” and you’d be right. The problem with that notion is that is widely recognized by historians to be a megalomaniacal delusion. By the time the U.S. entered the war, Hitler’s war machine was already crumbling. The economic improvements he made were propped up with incredible debt and slave labor. He ruined the infrastructure and wrecked the economies of the places he invaded. His success was completely unsustainable. While he was indeed a scourge on Europe, he posed absolutely no threat to the U.S.
What about World War One? The Lusitania had Americans on it, right? Right. Sadly, they were kind of asking for it. Not only were they knowingly going through a declared war zone, the boat was carrying munitions for the British military. Moreover, the British were in breach of international law, prompting a no-holds-barred approach from the Germans. U.S. involvement in World War 1 did not save any American lives; to the contrary, it resulted in over 100,000 American deaths, and many more if you consider that it may have led to the second World War.
As far back as you want to go, you’d be hard-pressed to find an example of U.S. military action that directly protected life and liberty of U.S. citizens. You could make the case that they were protecting the life and liberty of other peoples by dismantling evil governments, but it’s a hard case to make as they don’t seem to be thanking us.
I do appreciate the sentiment of sacrifice for the sake of liberty, but that’s all it is; a sentiment. It’s not the reality of what our troops actually do. What they actually do is invade other countries that are no threat to us so that politicians can use them for their benefit in diplomacy and domestic policy. What they actually do is prop up corporations, who prop up politicians, who in turn favor corporations. What they actually do is use a lot of money, and take a lot of lives. There is an abundance of evidence to support this, with no evidence to support the “sacrifice and service” mentality.
What is the worth of intention? It’s a difficult question. If a man’s intention is to do good, how much evidence of the harm of his actions must he be presented with before he can be expected to change his methodology? I’m not sure where to draw the line, but when we’re talking about something as extreme as killing people, the standard of evidence must be high. If there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary of your viewpoint, and you are taking lives based on a sentiment with no backing, the word “irresponsible” hardly seems sufficient; that’s just evil.
I’m not saying that all soldiers are evil. While there is no evidence to support the “sacrifice and serve” mentality, there is overwhelming reinforcement, as I mentioned before. It’s forgivable to be misguided. It’s not forgivable, however, once having seen the evidence of the corruption of the leadership, to remain an advocate of the war machine. I don’t even ask that they leave the military (I understand how difficult they make it to leave), just that they speak the truth about what it is they do. They do not protect and serve me. They do not preserve my life and liberty, and they do not help spread democracy. They benefit a corrupt establishment. They protect the interests of politicians and preserve the profits of corporations.
Even if it was all true, even if they really were preserving my life and liberty, it’s not rational to expect gratitude from someone who has a service forced upon them. The real clincher is that I don’t have a choice whether the military “protects” me or not, so why would I be grateful? I don’t want anyone dying for me. I have no choice, and if it was a choice, I would say “no, thank you.”
