Chris Hedges: The Real Enemy Is Within

[marmar]

from truthdig:


The Real Enemy Is Within

Posted on Sep 6, 2015
By Chris Hedges


If you are not dedicated to the destruction of empire and the dismantling of American militarism, then you cannot count yourself as a member of the left. It is not a side issue. It is the issue. It is why I refuse to give a pass in this presidential election campaign to Bernie Sanders, who refuses to confront the war industry or the crimes of empire, including U.S. support for the slow genocide carried out by Israel against the Palestinians. There will be no genuine democratic, social, economic or political reform until we destroy our permanent war machine.

Militarists and war profiteers are our greatest enemy. They use fear, bolstered by racism, as a tool in their efforts to abolish civil liberties, crush dissent and ultimately extinguish democracy. To produce weapons and finance military expansion, they ruin the domestic economy by diverting resources, scientific and technical expertise and a disproportionate share of government funds. They use the military to carry out futile, decades-long wars to enrich corporations such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. War is a business. And when the generals retire, guess where they go to work? Profits swell. War never stops. Whole sections of the earth live in terror. And our nation is disemboweled and left to live under what the political philosopher Sheldon Wolin calls “inverted totalitarianism.” Libertarians seem to get this. It is time the left woke up.

“Bourgeois society faces a dilemma,” socialist Rosa Luxemburg writes, “either a transition to Socialism, or a return to barbarism ... we face the choice: either the victory of imperialism and the decline of all culture, as in ancient Rome—annihilation, devastation, degeneration, a yawning graveyard; or the victory of Socialism—the victory of the international working class consciously assaulting imperialism and its method: war. This is the dilemma of world history, either-or; the die will be cast by the class-conscious proletariat.”

The U.S. military and its array of civilian contractors operate as enforcers and hired killers across the globe for corporations, many of which pay no taxes. Young men and women, many unable to find work, are the cannon fodder. The U.S. military has served as the handmaiden of capitalism since it committed genocide against Native Americans, carried out on behalf of land speculators, mineral companies, timber merchants and the railroads. The military replicated this indiscriminate slaughter at the end of the 19th century in our imperial expansion in Cuba and elsewhere in the Caribbean, in Central America and especially in the Philippines. Military muscle exists to permit global corporations to expand markets and plunder oil, minerals and other natural resources while keeping subjugated populations impoverished by corrupt and brutal puppet regimes. The masters of war are the scum of the earth. .....................(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_real_enemy_is_within_20150906

[spanone]

1. K&R...

[FormerRepublicanNow]

12. I disagree with this OP

Some wars are necessary for defense, but under the Constitution they require congress to declare it; and a draft to man it. However I have no problem with a strong defense establishment, never to be used, to deter war. Ike had the right idea.

[spanone]

14. good for you.

[Fuddnik]

16. We haven't fired a shot in self defense since 1945.

The rest is all imperialism.

[FormerRepublicanNow]

18. Nor has Congress declared war, all of them were illegal

[ChiciB1]

23. Love Chris Hedges, Understand What He's Saying, BUT

who would he prefer? It's not like we have lots of choices of others who are at least WILLING to run. As it is, whatever flaws Bernie may have are they as bad as most people running this country?

Is it not almost impossible to achieve perfection? I'm very liberal and to the left, but give me a perfect candidate and I'll switch. It's a heave lift and Bernie has ALREADY been deemed un-electable by most Democrats in office! So DO tell???

[djean111]

2. Of all the candidates, GOP and Dem, Bernie would come the closest to addressing the MIC

takeover of the US.

[tblue37]

3. K&R, and to the greatest page for you. nt

[n2doc]

4. Perfect is the enemy of good

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good

Waiting to vote for a perfect candidate just leaves the field to everyone else. I guess some have not learned the lessons of the past decade.

[DirkGently]

5. Not coincidentally, military exploits get a lot of our money as well.

Conservatives and Republicans in America like to moan about the prospect of "re-distributing wealth." They talk lovingly about "their wealth," and how it is sought to be taken from them and given to the undeserving.

But what actually happens more often is that everyone's "wealth" is re-distributed upward, to the already wealthy. No better example than the literal trillions funneled into defense budgets and our ongoing string of wars to attempt to control the Middle East.

I read once (and I cannot find it now) that the average American pays some $4,000 in yearly income tax to support our military, budgeted at an amount equal to the next 10 highest spending countries combined. And about $40 for social programs.

And yet people have been persuaded that the $40 moving downward on the economic spectrum, which will directly benefit their neighborhoods, hospitals, and schools, is akin to a ruthless "taking," while the gigantic multiple of that amount directed to these wars that have so far paid off only in shame and misery to ourselves and others, are unquestionably necessary.

Who pulled off this trick? And for how long will it fool everyone?

[Newest Reality]

6. This was recently posted here:

Abby Martin has returned with Empire Files. This episode illuminates the point you are making and offers a concentrated expose of the prevailing Geo-political and financial machinery involved. It is a far more massive problem than most of us have been made aware of.

[erronis]

17. Many thanks for posting this video. I need to look for more of this. nt.

[daleanime]

21. bookmarked

by this post, for later.

[erronis]

22. And this is the previously posted link. I expect a lot more comments after US "Labor" day.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027146800

[Octafish]

7. There it is.

Military expenditures bleed the federal budget—officially—of $598.49 billion a year, or 53.71 percent of all spending. This does not, however, include veterans’ benefits at $65.32 billion a year or hidden costs in other budgets that see the military and the war profiteers take as much as $1.6 trillion a year out of the pockets of taxpayers...

The naked greed and violence that define empire, understood by writers such as Joseph Conrad, Eduardo Galeano and Arundhati Roy, is masked within empire behind the cant of patriotism and nationalism, which sanctify self-exaltation and racism. Imperial war is transformed through the magic of propaganda into glorious spectacle. Galeano once wrote that “each time a new war is disclosed in the name of the fight of the good against evil, those who are killed are all poor. It’s always the same story repeating once and again and again.”

-- Chris Hedges

Thanks for the heads-up, marmar!

[Doctor_J]

8. kick rec this one too

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016131694

[ancianita]

20. Thanks! Loss of civilian control of the U.S. military has posed a hidden danger for us all.

[navarth]

9. Thanks marmar this is great

a great read.

[Demeter]

10. I'm not a purist, and Bernie isn't a fool

To go down Hedge's path is to court assassination, assuming the foolish anti-Empire, anti-war candidate isn't knocked out of the running by public M$M scorn, first.

[Locrian]

11. at this point

At this point - I wonder if any candidate actually CAN take them on. MIC deals in death... and it won't go quietly into the night if challenged.

[SharonAnn]

13. Sometimes the way to "take them on" is not a frontal assault. It's done by this:

1. Get a seat at the table so that you're part of the decision making
2. Raise issues as part of the process and get the decision moved, sometimes incrementally towards the better decision
3. Use the platform (seat) to raise issues, discuss perspectives, present alternatives (get people thinking)

Yes, this takes a lot of persistence and work, but it can actually change the way people see things. The results can be very long-lasting.

In the Art of War, a frontal assault is seen as the most costly and the least likely to be successful. That hasn't changed.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. "Libertarians seem to get this" - Hedges is a fool

If he really thinks that the people calling themselves 'libertarians' would actually get rid of most of the US military, he's too gullible to listen you.

[ancianita]

19. My response to Hedges' essay is also in Good Reads.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016131694

[RufusTFirefly]

24. If you directly oppose American militarization and empire, you will lose

If, on the other hand, you push for public financing of elections and for the overturning of Citizens United, you have a good chance of winning. And, ultimately, you will achieve the same goal that Hedges espouses.

I believe the military term for this is a flanking maneuver.

[Hydra]

25. It really is the center of our problem

And a lot of people may complain that he shouldn't attack Bernie...but it's reality. Bernie will do what he can for us, but this is our system.

As long as the system is in place, this is what it will do. The system has to be dismantled. Capitalism to Socialism, Militarism to Defense, Exploitation to Conservation, Rules for some to Rule of Law.

[cantbeserious]

28. ^^^ This ^^^

eom

[maindawg]

26. The last politician who tried was knamed Kennedy

They killed his brother also, and that was the President.
The first thing that could be done would be the dissolve the CIA. They are the people who killed our president, for that reason alone they should be impeached. Dissolved. Then we can have the FBI investigate their crimes and we can prosecute the criminals. That is where I would start.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. Kennedy tried to slash defense spending?

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_1960_1980USp_16s1li111mcn_30t

Year Defense-total percent GDP
1960 9.81
1961 10.12
1962 10.51
1963 10.06
1964 9.53
1965 8.28
1966 8.54
...
Business As Usual, I'd say.

[maindawg]

35. He defied the CIA

He refused to accept the Vietnam bullshit. Thats is why they killed him. The military industrial complex , the CIA and the criminal billionaires who own our government , almost all governments killed JFK. We know who exactly did it.
Lets not act like we dont know.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. And yet, he didn't cut defense spending, which is what the OP is about

It's not as if Vietnam involvement decreased under him, is it?

Enough with the Camelot-glossed speculations. There are thing we do know about JFK and South Vietnam: First, U.S. troop levels there grew from around 900 to approximately 16,000 during his presidency. Second, while there were contingency plans to get those soldiers out at some point (possibly the end of 1965), the contingency was South Vietnam becoming successful at repelling the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. That wasn’t happening in the jungles of Vietnam in 1963. Third, there is no record of JFK having expressed a definite post-election withdrawal intention to Vice President Lyndon Johnson, his attorney general brother Robert Kennedy, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, CIA Director John McCone or any other members of his National Security Council.

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/22/the_truth_about_jfk_and_vietnam_why_the_speculation_is_wrong_headed/

[cantbeserious]

27. Know Thy Enemy - Oligarchs, Corporations And Banks - Their MIC Henchman, Media And Political Minions

eom

[ladjf]

29. I approve of Bernie's decisions as to what problems he chooses to

try to correct. The points in the OP about the military complex are valid how ever and should be addressed in order of priority.

[cantbeserious]

30. The Last Paragraph Sums Things Up Nicely

http://www.truthdig.com/report/page3/the_real_enemy_is_within_20150906

Snip ...

"There can be no rational debate about empire with many desperate Americans who have ingested this as their creed. The distortion of neoliberalism has left them little else. Here lies the virus of fascism, wrapped in the American flag, held aloft by the Christian cross and buttressed by white supremacy. It is a potent and dangerous force within the body politic. And it is growing. The real enemy is within."

[struggle4progress]

31. It saddens me to see Hedges drift into vacuous pablum like this

For me, the problem is not that I disagree with his general sentiments -- but rather that the sentiments by themselves don't help us at all

[fadedrose]

33. It's not just Bernie

It's been all of our presidents, capitalists, warmongers, religious fanatics, wrongs on so many people in society,

there's blame to go around, and no sign of any change.

[Fairgo]

34. Polemic

Hedges makes his case. We can hope that he is wrong, and there is no harm in trying to prove him thusly...because end game is end game, now or later. I'd venture that we need high spirits and a strong back to turn this tide (a nod to the millions to be displaced by the changing coast line and climate). But let us sing as we row...