I am a tenth-generation Quaker (though I'm non-theist). I am pacifist by heritage, mature consideration and inclination. I also believe there are battles worth fighting. Were I born in 1920 instead of 1976, I would have joined the WAC or the WAVES and allowed myself to be put to use as a computer or analyst. (My Quaker/Red Diaper Baby grandmother, who was born in 1920, did so, with a clear conscience -- Fascists were that big of a threat. So did my grandfather, who served as a medic, and two great-uncles, who were also CO.) I wanted a peacekeeping force into Bosnia (was too young to go). I wanted a serious peacekeeping force into Somalia and Sudan and Darfur. I wanted another peacekeeping force into Afghanistan well before 2001. I initially supported the invasion, on the hopes that we'd do it right and restore Afghanistan to the cosmopolitan, progressive nation it was before the Soviet invasion. I am disappointed that we failed, and I am terrified for the fates of the women who have been educated and will be returned to Taliban rule. I believe in the power of peacekeeping to prevent atrocity, or at least mitigate it.
I am a Social Democrat with civil libertarian leanings. I believe in a living wage, a minimum income, a maximum wage tied to the minimum, in progressive taxation, in meaningful work for all according to their abilities and inclinations and supporting everyone who cannot. I believe in education for all, health care for all, and equal opportunity for all. I believe that corporations are the greatest danger to this republic and the concentration of wealth is what is responsible for our current wars. I hate admitting it, but the military is an impressive model of how to implement a living wage, a minimum income, education, health care and equal opportunity. I think the current forces have been woefully mismanaged and horribly abused by the entrenched political and economic powers.
I am an historian of demographics of the Industrial Revolution. My studies have taught me that whenever a nation has concurrently an 1) entrenched political class who is a generation older than a 2) disenfranchised, large younger generation and 3) a concentration of wealth in the hands of a small elite, then war is not only possible, but inevitable. The entrenched older generation fears losing their power to the younger generation and the younger generation has limited access to power because the elders refuse to give up theirs, so the younger will seek alternative routes. The elder generation will seek to limit these alternatives by diverting a portion of the younger into war. Build me a better human, and we'll talk about generations gracefully relinquishing power. I am disgusted by the political power grab that a demographic bulge always creates. I am massively disappointed that a generation who demanded equal rights, an end to impressment (the draft) and peace for themselves can now casually throw my generation and the next into war and economic impressment.
I am a military brat, a Naval officer's kid. I grew up on base. I've directly benefited from the vast wealth transfer scheme that is the Department of Defense. I've seen communities be born, thrive and die on the adjacent base (or due to its closure.) Both of my siblings and their spouses are direct beneficiaries of the educational opportunities afforded to servicemembers and veterans. All of my nieblings have or had access to the best socialized medicine system in the world and benefited from it. They, and we, also grew up in the most integrated society in history, and I believe that is an ultimate good. I've also seen the harm done both in times of war and in peace -- the destroyed lives, the shattered dreams, the suppression of individuality and free will. I've also seen how choosing a military career can lift an individual from grinding poverty, poor education and woefully inadequate health care. I want that to remain an option because sometimes, the only way a kid from Appalachia or BFE Missouri or South Central can get to college and get dental care is to take the Federal Shilling. But I want an equal option for people who are engaged in peace. I'm disappointed that we've never figured out how to try it.
I would much rather that the annual wealth transfer from the taxpayers to manufacturers of military hardware happen for some other purpose, but I cannot deny that DARPA is responsible for the basic research that makes so much possible. I want more money for research, and less for the ultimate consumer product (bombs -- after all, they're very expensive, a new model is always needed, and they're disposable.) I do not want to see DoD supported factory towns dry up and blow away -- I want to see them retooled for solar power production and wind turbines and fuel cells and structural steel and truly modular housing. We did it in 1941, we can do it again. I do not want to see thousands of highly skilled, well paid technicians and analysts and professionals suddenly become unemployable. It disappoints me that so much of the American middle class is dependent upon our ability to wage war.
I am proud of the potential of the system we built and what it showed to be possible if turned towards the promotion of peace. I am disgusted by the way it has been abused. We -- both civilians and servicemembers -- should have protested louder at the beginning of the abuse of this system. For that last, I am ashamed.
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