Showing posts with label Bruce Catton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bruce Catton. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Europeans die while Americans get rich off the Ukraine war: Is this a great country or what?

 Bruce Catton, the great chronicler of the Civil War, began one of his books with a quote from a chaplain in the Union Army who was struck by the fact that the war was devastating the South while bringing prosperity to the North.

“What a marvel is here!” wrote the chaplain. “Something new under the sun! A nation, from internal resources alone, carrying on for over eighteen months the most gigantic war of modern times, ever increasing in its magnitude, yet all this while growing richer and more prosperous!”

Americans should likewise be astonished. The United States is funding an all-out war with Russia, a conflict that has left a half million Russians and Ukrainians either dead or wounded. And yet Americans are prospering under Bidenomics. It’s an economic miracle! And all this new wealth has been conjured up by President Joe Biden, a demented criminal!

Unfortunately, America's growing wealth hasn't been distributed equitably. I, for example, haven't made a dime off the Ukrainian ruckus in spite of the fact that I'm a registered Democrat. 

The defense contractors, however, are making out like bandits.  Rob Rooke, writing for a socialist online publication, points out that a third of the Defense budget goes to just five corporations: Boeing, Raytheon, Northrup, General Dynamics, and Lockheed Martin. Undoubtedly, the Ukraine war has sent a lot of business their way.

Europeans are noticing that Americans are profiting from the Ukraine war while Europe suffers. As one senior European official put it: 

The fact is, if you look at it soberly, the country that is most profiting from this war is the U.S. because they are selling more gas and at higher prices, and because they are selling more weapons. (As reported in The Economic Times)

 Is the defense industry sheepish or embarrassed about the money it's making off the war between Russia and Ukraine? Not at all. The Ukrainian embassy in DC recently hosted a reception celebrating the 31st anniversary of the founding of the Ukrainian military. 

Who sponsored this gala event? The American defense industry! The logos of these four defense contractors appeared on the friggin’ invitation: Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney, and Lockheed Martin (as reported by Jonathan Guyer in Vox).

The defense industry and its lobbyists are significant contributors to our nation's elected politicians. Perhaps this explains why most of them support the Ukraine war--both Democrats and Republicans. 

I'm all in favor of people making money. After all, that's what this nation's all about. Nevertheless, I oppose American involvement in the senseless Ukraine war. Can't America's business sector make an honest buck that doesn't involve the slaughter or dismemberment of thousands of Europeans?

Photo credt: Vox








Wednesday, August 17, 2022

A House Divided: Unless We Become Kinder and More Tolerant, America Will Collapse

 Years ago, I read The Coming Fury, Bruce Catton's classic study of the United States on the brink of civil war. In the months preceding the shelling of Fort Sumter, Catton explained, extremists in both the North and The South wanted a war. 

And war they got. When it was over, 600,00 men were dead, and thousands of veterans spent the rest of their lives without their arms or legs.

America was a house divided in 1860, and America is a house divided today. Last night's Republican primary in Wyoming illustrates my point. Liz Cheney, the Republican congresswoman who voted to impeach Donald Trump, was swept out of office by a landslide.

Curiously, Cheney carried two regions of the state: Teton County, where wealthy Democrats reside around Jackson Hole, and the region around the state capitol of Cheyenne--where most  of Wyoming's liberal-leaning government bureaucrats dwell.

As predicted, Democrats "crossed over" in Wyoming's Republican primary--not to support Liz Cheny but to register their contempt for Republicans and Donald Trump, the Republican's tarnished standard bearer.

We similar signs of division everywhere. Dana Milbank, the Washington Post's chief loon, wrote a column a few weeks ago expressing the desire for Texas and Oklahoma to leave the Union. 

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott is busing illegal migrants to New York City and Washington DC. Both towns are self-proclaimed sanctuary cities, but the mayor of DC wants to call out the National Guard to help control the people the District of Columbia claims to welcome.

In California, the state's government forbids travel by California employees to more than 20 states. Why? The reasons are varied, but they include disapproval of states that don't want youngsters with testicles to compete in girls' athletic contests.

Do you want another example? A poll of likely Texas voters found that a strong majority  want to leave the United States! That will make the Washington Post  and the liberal elites happy, but do they really want the nation's leading exporter, energy producer, and cattle raiser to head out on its own? I would think not.

Today the United States is very much like it was just before the guns began to play in 1861.  We need to step back and reflect a bit. Does it make sense for our political leaders to sow disharmony and denigrate the people who live in states where traditional values still prevail?

I do not think it does.