War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!

I am not a pacifist. That is a character flaw, according to some. Instead, I would call myself a non-aggressionist. Oddly enough, that is considered a character flaw by even more people. It means that I oppose the initiation of coercive force against innocent people. Basic kindergarten-level rules like, "Don't attack other people," and, "Don't take someone else's stuff," fall under this concept. So does the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It means to respect the life, liberty, and property of others. To violate those rights in others which I would have them respect toward me would be hypocrisy. Seems reasonable, right?

Of course, the State complicates issues. It has intertwined itself so aggressively with every aspect of society it can that escaping its aggression and avoiding tangential association with it is nigh impossible. And then there are those in the anarchist camp who insist that any interaction or exchange they disapprove is aggression, despite all reason and evidence, while demanding participation in their planned society or else is totally peaceful.

We live in a confusing world, but I would hope that despite all this, we can agree that bombing, burning, shooting, and stabbing people just because of the regime that claims to rule them is insane.

There is an argument that people are represented by their governments, and thus complicit in the crimes of those governments. That argument is bullshit. Even in a country that has pretensions of democratic elections, the government cannot rationally be shown to represent anyone but the people actively involved in the political machine. Those who voted should be mocked for their gullibility every time the politicians are shown to be lying, corrupt fraudsters. They don't deserve to be killed, though.

When a government is blatantly totalitarian, without even the faintest hint of a representative veneer, the people they are plundering are already suffering too much. Murdering them in drone strikes, nuclear bombings, or house-to-house raids is unjustifiable. Other non-solutions:

• Installing a new puppet government to exploit them on the behalf of a foreign empire.

• Imposing trade sanctions to prevent them from interacting with the global economy.

• Arming the governments that rule them.

Here in America, there is a perception that World War 2 was the last just war. Hitler was evil. I do not deny that in the least. However, his rise to power was a direct consequence of the unjust end of World War 1, a global collapse of Keynesian-influenced imperialist economic policy, and rampant nationalism used to fuel expansionism.

War is actually good for one thing, but that one thing isn't good at all. War is the health of the State. War justifies taxation, censorship, conscription, economic planning, and the fervor of patriotic religious revival. Wealth is destroyed, people suffer, and the State claims to be a Savior through it all. It is a sick charade.

All that being said, I still do not oppose violence in self-defense proportionate to the aggression someone else initiates against you. You have the right to defend your life, liberty, and property against trespass. This ought to be tempered by making allowances for error and the opportunity to show mercy. But with the State, there is no mercy, and as with the conflation of property boundaries and national borders, the government would have you believe that their murder machine is just an extension of your right to self-defense. This doesn't make sense when examined, but many believe it nonetheless.

The simple truth is that there are no just wars waged by any governments. Soldiers are not heroes, and they do not protect our freedom. War is a racket, as Smedley Butler wrote after retiring from the Marine Corps. I suspect this is why so many suffer from PTSD or commit suicide following their return from "service" overseas. They know itnis wrong, but they don't know why, and they know the system won't comprehend anyway. They are to be used up.and discarded, no matter how much politicians praise them.

So, how can we help people see the evil of war? The public is indoctrinated almost from birth, so calling soldiers murderers to their face won't help even if it is true. These are, by and large, victims of weaponized Stockholm syndrome who need help even though they participated in committing atrocities. The politicians who buy power with the lives of others deserve all the mockery and disdain you can muster, regardless of party. The military-industrial complex deserves blame, because they lobby for war and actively participate in the political machine. We need to starve the beast, and attack its legitimacy in the minds of our neighbors. Be slyly subversive. Be disobedient. Be free. Don't give the government one iota you can avoid surrendering into their evil claws. And never, never, support the deaths of civilians as an expedient to any end you desire. No tyrant is so evil that you can justify the slaughter of his subjects.

[/rant]