Is This The Best We Can Do

What does the National Rifle Association, Coal Keeps the Lights On, the US Army and Jesus all have in common? It's a trick question. They are all stickers I saw on the back glass of a pickup at Wal-Mart. When I think of Jesus I most often think of him teaching on the Mount of Olives as mentioned in the beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12. Most often 5:9 which reads, “blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called Children of God.” It is difficult for me to harmonize that teaching with gun violence, war and poor stewardship of the Earth.

I'm probably going to catch some flak over this but my difficulty is in understanding how people come to the rationale that there is no problem with selfishness, violence and war. I have stated before that I do believe that the second amendment establishes the right to keep arms but I don't see it as an absolute right since it is predicated upon the need for a ready militia. An archaic notion at best. And coal has kept the lights on for a century but at a terrible cost. Coal powered the industrial revolution that propelled our country into world leadership but at the cost of massive destruction to the earth and ongoing damage to the air we breath. Our continued use of it threatens to bring hardship on large numbers of the people globally. The Army is almost sacrosanct. But our country spends more on military affairs than the next 13 countries COMBINED. Isn't there something just a little bit insane about that?

I have written extensively on this topic, maybe more than is interesting to many. I have quoted many people, even a Republican president, on the dangers of allowing too much money and influence fall into the hands of the military-industrial-congressional complex but it is happening at a staggering pace right before our eyes. Recently Governor Beshear proudly announced one of the major defense contractors was going to be locating in the former Bluegrass Army Depot and our Congressman Hal Rogers announced that Northrup-Grumman, who used to just build things that fly, is planning to locate a facility in London. Not to build equipment but to staff an intelligence gathering hub. Why on earth are we allowing our government to use our dollars to spy on its own people? But one has to admit that it seems to be a growth industry with unlimited financing.

The National Rifle Association is a thinly disguised front for its member arms manufacturers and receives the bulk of its financing from those businesses. It reminds me of the pharmaceuticals who churn out tons of Oxycontin knowing that there can't be that much legitimate use for the product. Who do the NRA and its financiers think is buying all those guns? Do they suppose that we just keep buying them and stashing them in the closet or are they aware that a large number are being funneled into illegitimate activities? Is this the reason why they won't even entertain sensible regulations that they proposed themselves just a few years ago?

The extraction of coal has become a difficult process. All of the easy stuff has already been mined and now mountains must be moved to get at the thin seams. The industry cries about the “War On Coal” when what is happening is simple capitalism. Supply and Demand. Cost efficiency. We may yet find that the extraction of natural gas by fracking does far more damage than we currently suppose but it still burns much cleaner than coal. The Oklahoma oilman, Boone Pickens, had it right. It is a useful transitional fuel as we move to a sustainable energy future. The time will come when we stop tearing up the planet to get fuel but it is a while down the road. We need to try to keep a place to live long enough to get there and therein lies the need for good stewardship of our only home. Make no mistake, the earth will survive but it does not need people for that to happen.

It is hard to fuss too much about the Army. The problem is not with the Army, it is with those who want to use it for nefarious purposes. The Army responds to civilian direction and sometimes the civilian direction has motives other than national security in mind. I think the point is that when one maintains a massive military there is the natural tendency to do something with it. If you don't then someone may get the idea we don't need such a war machine standing ready to fight wars anywhere on the globe two at a time. Right now I can't think of a single place that we have our armed forces fighting that we really need to be there. Quit the fighting, come home and let's rebuild our country. We can use the money here but Boeing and Northrup-Grumman may have to find something else to do. What do you bet they don't have enough pull in Congress to keep the gravy train running?

General Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, gave a stern assessment of any military intervention in Syria but as I write this it is all but certain that the trigger is pulled and only the firing is delayed. Just as we wind down a war another is created in order to fuel the enormous gluttony of our military-industrial-congressional complex.

My take, if anyone is interested, is that as a nation we get the kind of government we allow. If you don't like it, change it. Let's save the missiles and bombs and build roads and fight fires.