Time for freedom from endless, imperialist wars – The Missoulian

Tomorrow is July Fourth, or, as Americans call it, Independence Day a national holiday to celebrate the 1776 Declaration of Independence that marked the end of the Revolutionary War and the birth of a new nation free from British Imperial domination. But now, 241 years later, its time to seek true freedom from another domination the shackles placed on our people by our own imperial and endless wars.

For those who have been paying attention to something besides the twisted reality TV show of the Trump presidency, there are some startling statistics to consider. First, our nation now has military troops conducting special operations in 137 different countries worldwide. Thats shocking considering most Americans probably couldnt even name 137 different countries, let alone fathom what might be of such grave national importance to require our armed forces there.

Second, which strikes a lot closer to home, the Republican Congressional majorities are now clamoring for a vast increase in military spending. The number thats been tossed out recently is a whopping $689 billion a year. Thats very nearly two billion dollars a day tossed into the military, which comes out to 2,000 million bucks drained from the Treasury (or borrowed from other countries like China) every day of the year. And thats not counting the spending on the black budgets of our global spy agencies.

While this same Congress is telling the American people we simply cannot afford health care for our neediest citizens but must give enormous tax breaks to our wealthiest citizens it is demanding that we spend almost a million and a half dollars a minute on the military. Considering the debt burden on a college graduate is now somewhere around $40,000, that minutes worth of military spending could have paid for 37 students college educations. Think of that every day wed rather drive the nation billions deeper in debt to pay for weapons of destruction than allow 53,000 students to get a college education without incurring the crippling burden of tens of thousands of dollars in loans.

Even worse, isnt it time to wonder just what were getting for this insane level of military spending? Weve been in Afghanistan for a stunning 16 years already and even our top military officials are saying were not winning there. Their answer? Send more troops and weapons, spend more money, and kill more people.

If that isnt bad enough and it is were now ramping up our next war in Syria to, once again, attempt to accomplish the wholly imperial goal of telling other nations what to do and how to live or suffer regime change if they dont do as we say, cut us some good deals for our multinational corporations, or willingly give up their natural resources for American exploitation.

How very far we have strayed from the intent of our founding fathers to establish a nation based on freedom from exactly the kind of imperialist colonial policies our politicians are now pursuing. Proof is the latest drivel from those same politicians who have now moved on from energy independence for the U.S. to, as Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and his boss Donald Trump put it, our new goal of energy dominance.

Its no wonder Americas standing in the world has plummeted and a majority of nations now view us unfavorably. On this Independence Day, its time for we, the people to take back our government, to remember our incredible legacy of freedom, and cease the mental and fiscal slavery of endless wars.

George Ochenski's column appears each Monday on the Missoulian's Opinion page. He can be reached by email at oped@missoulian.com.

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Time for freedom from endless, imperialist wars - The Missoulian