Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton never served in the military.
Each of them didn’t have any problem sending the sons or daughters of other fathers to far away lands to die. Every president, it seems, wants a good war. Trump is itching for a good war to gain relevance. This attitude of our country, this war-machine fueled economy, is what poisons the world, and – I honestly believe – is what actually causes Islamic aggression. If we left the Middle East alone, if we didn’t constantly meddle and send soldiers and drones, a new generation would grow up and go to college, put bread on their tables, and enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, in their own way.
But I digress on utopian ideas.
President Jimmy Carter has a reputation of being one of our weakest presidents. During his years, inflation was severe. Interest rates were in the high teens. I started my life in the United States during the Carter years.
President Carter is also one of the smartest presidents ever, with an estimated IQ of 153. He took graduate courses in nuclear physics and reactor technology as a Navy officer and submariner. Except for Dwight Eisenhower, no president of the 20th century spent more time in the service than Jimmy Carter. And finally, there were no wars in the Carter Administration. Eight people died in a hostage crisis, but otherwise, he is famous for having said: “We never dropped a bomb, we never fired a bullet.”
In a world where we have an entire generation that has grown up witnessing war overseas waged by the United States, a generation that doesn’t even remember Carter as anyone but a 92 year old ex-president that always seems to be working on humanitarian causes, I thought it might be a healthy reminder that there are other conduct options for our country than war.
And with that thought, let’s all go back to waking up every day seriously worried about what insane thing Trump might do today that can get millions of people killed while we’re making America great again.
99% of the world’s population just want to have a peaceful life, lived without the threat of bombs, raise their children to adulthood, live and love, have careers, etc. That American men in power want to have revenge-filled pissing contests to prove their manhood, or take whatever they want under cover of “fighting communism/planting democracy” — (Vietnam was for its zinc, apparently) — or to make their daddy’s proud of them just makes me sick. Of course, being bombed by America will make them “join” ISIS or any right-wing cult that promises them freedom from fear.
I am thoroughly convinced that America invented terrorism – the kind we have now. If we just left the Middle East alone for a few decades, and if Israel kept a low profile, things would quiet down. I know Syrians, I now Iranians. They are all smart, hardworking and kind people. If we just stopped killing their daddies….
We have a burgeoning population that lives the military life and we have lots f gun toting people that fantasize about guns and war and they are living in constant fear that the military is never quite built up enough and that entity known as military occasionally needs real life war experiences to make them feel valued and viable. As Trump would say: “Sad”