Republicans' Obsession with War

Republicans have a fascination with war. All of our recent wars have been initiated by Republican presidents. Ronald Reagan's war, however, may not qualify as a real war. After all, invading the small, defenseless island of Grenada is more in the category school-yard bullying and does not deserve to be called a war. More importantly, Reagan sent 12,000 US troops to Lebanon in 1982, only to withdraw them after 241 marines, whom Reagan had ordered not to carry live ammunition, were killed in Beirut.

Then there are the Bush presidents. George H. Bush initiated "The Gulf War' in which the US under General Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait. In this quick and efficient operation  ("Desert Storm") , the military death toll was over 1,900.

Unfortunately, the popularity and perceived success of Desert Storm may have led the younger Bush, George W., to think that war was the best way of saving face after his administration  had been embarrassed by the 9/11 attacks. Dubya, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and the Neocons, like Paul Wolfowitz,  were gung ho on unleashing a "shock and awe" campaign in Iraq while fighting a major war in Afghanistan. Despite the fact that their reasons for the war were non existent, we suffered the loss of over 50,000 military personnel.  Now, all these years later, after these two wars are finally drawing to a close, a few Republicans are making noises about a war with Iran, but are receiving very little support.

Buck, a friend of mine, is fond of saying a Republican never met a war he/she did not like, but he is mistaken. Although the GOP is all in on the War Against Drugs and the War Against Crime, they turn pale at the mention of Lyndon Johnson's War Against Poverty.

More recently we have a group of Tea Party/Libertarian/ Fundamentalists who call themselves Republicans, and they want to declare war on everyone and everything. And although they swore to uphold the Constitution, their favorite war is The War Against the US Government.

Their bellicose passion knows no limits. They seek war and annihilation of a whole array of imagined enemies. They are intent upon waging:

• The War against Women: fighting women on every possible front. In addition to trying to redefine rape and restricting women's health care benefits, Republicans in Congress refused to renew The Violence Against Women law.
• The War against the Poor: poor workers are poor for a reason, God created them poor. Raising the minimum wage will only encourage the laziness of the working poor.
• The War against Organized Labor: what makes workers think they can negotiate with our friends, the huge corporations? 
• The War against the Homeless: they are an embarrassment; round them up and send them to Mexico or one of  our friends' "privatized prisons."
• The War against the Middle Class: What was Henry Ford thinking, by giving factory workers a just wage he allowed them to improve their lot in life.
• The War against Public Education: we need vouchers and charter schools which can operate like a private school, even promoting a religion, using taxpayer money but without accountability. In fact, some charter schools are seeking to be exempt from criminal law.
• War against Children: legislators in Kansas seek to allow teachers to beat children until they are bruised, and they cut back on the food stamp program which has a major effect on children.
• War against Public Employees: Be they police, firefighters, teachers, or civil engineers, they are socialist "moochers." But we do expect these public employees to put their lives on the line to save our sorry asses.
• War against Homosexuals: homophobic Republicans have introduced bills in various state legislatures which would permit discrimination against homosexuals. So much for the "home of the free."
• War against the IRS: the Internal Revenue Service began  investigating right-wing, tax-exempt "charitable" organizations which were in fact nothing more than political fund-raising groups. Ignoring the fact that these groups were breaking the law, they complained that  they were being "targeted" by the IRS. I think the Mafia should claim they are being "targeted" by the FBI.

Perhaps the most serious threat the Republicans are posing is their War on Democracy. In state after state they are seeking legislation designed to make it more difficult for Americans to vote. In addition to severely limiting early voting, absentee balloting, provisional balloting, requiring identification that many poor and elderly citizens lack, a few wing-nuts have recently suggested that the vote of the obscenely wealthy should count more than that of a working mother living below the poverty line.

Although my Republican friends frequently seek to solve a problem with warfare, I would remind them of Thomas Mann's admonition: "War is a cowardly escape from the problems of peace."