Which Way, America?

A couple of days ago I picked up once again the book Nemesis by Chalmers Johnson. I read about events which occured in Japan in 2004. You may recall the U.S. soldiers who were accused of assaults on Japanese citizens.

I won't give the details here, but the stories in Johnson's book are set in the context of the U.S. military dominance of the world. Chalmers Johnson's great contribution is in giving such a clear picture of the depth and breadth of what is in effect a U.S. world Empire. Now I hesitate to equate this empire precisely with the Roman Empire of old. Clearly there are differences. Yet the mentality of the so-called neocons has been right in line with the attitude which fostered the empires of old, including the British.

As the new year dawns it is critical to ask what kind of country the United States is to be. Will we take our place as a true leader among other great nations? Or will we continue to insist on world military domination? Haven't the people of America been sold a bill of goods? Have certain powerful forces engineered a climate of fear in which we feel compelled to maintain a huge military presence in the world? What would our Founding Fathers think? Surely we know they would highly disapprove. And what of the peace dividend promised after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the break-up of the Soviet Union? Whatever happened to the millions or billions of dollars that were to be diverted into an unnecessary military and arrive back home to help and assist our country?

What we have instead is a failing infrastructure. Responsible people have been warning about this for years. But it has taken a major economic crisis to bring action. And still there is no serious talk of reducing our military commitments abroad. Why? Why must we wait? Must we wait for the 22nd century before we have a rational world? Or is an irrational world more in the interests of the oligarchs?

So we have a choice. Americans can attempt to persist in this insanity or we can begin to open up an intelligent discussion about how we can create and maintain a peaceful and prosperous world. If we do not have this discussion -- and it must come quickly -- we are doomed to horrors the likes of which we have never seen. I realize this is language I don't usually use on this blog. But it is important to set the choice in stark terms so the alternatives may be seen clearly. Where we go from there -- the "how" of the change is something that can be talked about. I plan to have more to say about this subject in a near time.