Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 05/29/18> Looking back … and forward.
This is kind of a new experience for me as I am actually writing this in the middle of the early afternoon. I can only think of one other time that I wrote a Daily Dose column during the day and that was when I announced the winners of the photo contest that I held and I had the contest end at high noon on a Saturday. As most of you are aware I always write and publish the daily dose as the last thing I do each day, but today I thought while I had the time I would write this while it is still early and the sun is high in the sky.
Memorial Day here is the USA is a time for remembering our fallen service men and women, heaven knows we have lost a bunch of them in the wars over the years. I said a prayer today for those folks and also the families of those folks who have had to live their lives without that special someone who never made it back from the war. Personally I only have known two people who have died fighting for the USA, one died in Vietnam and the other in Iraq. I guess I have been pretty lucky in that regard.
I study a lot on the hostility of our country, oops I meant history, no I think I had it right the first time, hostility is the right word. I am 62 years old and I did the research on how many years of my lifetime we have not been at war, anyone have any guesses? I will hold back the answer until tomorrow to give you a chance reply and to put a number as an answer.
I will say that it is no wonder that other countries refer to the USA as a “military industrial complex” because that is exactly what we are, and honestly folks, that needs to change. We are, for all intent and purposes, “the school yard bully” of this planet. We may not like to think of ourselves as such but the numbers show that we are.
It makes perfect sense why so many people want to come to the United States and not assimilate, they aren’t coming here for the American Dream, and they are coming because of the American Nightmare. The USA has created more nightmares for people all around this world with war, we like to refer to it as “peace keeping missions” or needed “regime change” but my mind just can’t come to grips with that. How is dropping bombs and armed conflicts in where people die a “peace keeping mission”?
People come here to avoid being killed in their countries by us, if we want to stop illegal immigration let’s start by keeping our nose out of those other countries business. Most of the illegal immigration isn’t from Mexican nationals; it is people from other countries that are in Latin America and South America coming thru Mexico to get here. Even folks from the middle east are using Mexico as there place to sneak into here from.
Which brings up another good point, why do we think that everyone should live like us in a supposed “freedom”? I use the word “supposed” because we are a far cry from free. We try and change regimes in foreign countries and put into place governments that we want patterned after our own. That doesn’t create any freedom for the people in those countries; it just puts them under control of our puppets.
I think I will stop right here on the “looking back”, because quite frankly, I don’t like what I see. If you are an American, how do you see it? Let’s take a look forward now; do you see anything changing anytime soon? There is a saying that “history repeats itself”, I am sure you have heard that before. Does it really need too though? I, myself, am tired of these endless wars and killing and I would hope that you are as well, regardless of what country you live in.
I don’t own a crystal ball but if I had one I’m sure it would be showing the future to be very similar to the past, more wars with bombing and killing. Folks, it doesn’t need to be this way, it is about time we break this endless cycle of war and start making this world a better place to live and raise a family.
In my lifetime so far we haven’t had a war fought on USA soil but I am not so sure that by the time my life is over that we won’t. I can guarantee you, that when that day comes and we are fighting here, it will be a dark day for us here in the USA. One might even say that the “chickens will have come home to roost”, and Lord knows we have had a bunch of eggs laid over the years.
Until next time,
@sultnpapper
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Thank you so much, also nice to noticed by your following.
Yikes, I certainly hope it doesn't come to roost (while my selfish self is here anyway). But I agree with that assessment about the world bully.
If you plan on being here any length of time at all you may very well get to see some eggs hatching.
Beautifully put. Part of me wants to hold back from agreeing with what you say because I don't want to sound as if I'm anti-American. The USA has given the world a lot of great things, but sadly much of this is being overshadowed by the constant warfare. Our government in the UK is no better, unleashing bombing campaigns without even bothering to consult Parliament, using questionable evidence as an excuse for warfare and selling arms to tyrannical regimes. And many people complain when immigrants arrive from the countries our bombs and our meddling have destroyed. That's why many people carried "Not in our name" placards during the anti-Iraq war demos. It's good to show the government that we want to distance ourselves from their violence.
The USA and the UK have an incestuous relationship and can be found screwing things up together in most cases. Despite what people think about us being free, the war we supposedly won against ya'll we didn't. We pay a "tribute" each year to the Queen and her family, it is due every year here on April 15th in what we call, income tax.
There was never a treaty signed and I can't remember at the moment who was King at the time, but in the armistice agreement he claimed the United States as a possession of the Royal family. Of course we are not taught that here, you have to actually go read the documents in order to see that for yourself.
Yup! I wasn't aware of the Royal Tribute you all have to pay, but I was aware that the "special relationship" that our leaders love to mention is about much more than grinning politicians posing for photocalls. I don't know if you've read The Anglo American Establishment by Carroll Quigley, but it sets out how this relationship was covertly nurtured and built up in the early 20th century. One unattributed quote mentioned in the book was this: "The function of force is to give moral ideas time to take root."
Haven't read the book you mentioned but sounds like it might be an interesting read. I don't put much stock in unattributed quotes, if you can't put the source I say don't bother with the "quote" since it can never be verified.
It is an interesting read, though a bit dry. The full text is avaliable in pdf format at archive.org.
Thanks for the heads up on where to find it.
Some -- a small few -- well-connected and influential people in the United States get very, very, very, very rich when they persuade the government (We, the People) to blow stuff up in other parts of the world, hire them to rebuild things, and then do it all over again.
As long as there is this much profit in war, it's literally guaranteed we'll have a lot more of it.
No doubt in what you have stated here, it is very sad that we have allowed this as a people who are suppose to be "in charge" of our government.
I'm watching the Ken Burns documentary on WWII on Netflix while I work this week ... and it is astonishing (even nostalgic and quaint) to see politicians concerned about offending "the voters" and saying "The American people will never stand for such-and-so." People in Congress and the White House used to think about how to keep their constituents happy -- and serve the interests of the people at least SOME of the time. Now they clearly figure they can get away with anything they have the balls to try ... and the electorate will put up with any old crap. Sadly, so far, they've been right.
That has always been the case with elected officials, worrying about getting re-elected, nothing else matters in their grand scheme of things.
I would have to agree with everything you said, @sultnpapper. I am an outsider looking in, sort of an impartial observer if you will. I have studied history and people for a very long time. A little longer than perhaps you. I feel the changes we need to make as humanity, is, to begin with, ourselves. If we have no peace and love in our hearts, how can we have it for our fellow man? If we are brought up with hatred for each other, how can we possibly of peace? We tend to label each other without much thought or understanding. Groups of people are painted with the same brush regardless if we have taken the time to actually know them. e have political labels, race labels, religious labels, labels according to abilities or disabilities. And yet we force others into our way of thinking because we have to be right? Why do we have to be right? Because we can't stand to be wrong...
Yes, you are correct in the way you have explained it and you won't get any argument from me on the conclusion you reached about being wrong.
Very powerful blog..as usual..”heroic” of you to bring it up on Memorial Day..that explains the overwhelming amount of comments..That being said you are absolutely right on every point except the part that things can change..it is very profound of you to think that way and personally as much as I applaud your good intentions I still think of them as a matter of utopia! Nothing will change and yes one day the wheel is going to turn and unfortunately the only ones that will have to suffer are the regular people..PS: not trying to be a smart ass, but as long as I have Mr Google around..it would be stupid not to research...US has been at peace some what 20 years since its birth..222 years of war ..out of 239 years...Nice going America!!! In this amount of time of fighting for freedom we should have established world peace by now..anybody feel the peace?! Hehe
Well good to hear from you Lidac, and while you are pretty spot on with numbers on how long America has been at war but that wasn't the question. The question was how many years of my lifetime have we not been at war? I am 62, like I stated in the dose, so any guesses on that? Well, don't guess, just ask Mr. Google and then get back to me.
Things can change, but not by electing the same types of people we have been electing. The people have to make the stand that enough is enough. If it can't be done through the election process then there are other means that would have to be considered.
We should have established world peace by now but war never establishes peace, and we have proven that time and time again.
5 years of peace out of your 62...and I hate to be right on this one but I will stand by my initial statement that nothing will change be it through election or any other means..that is just Sci-Fi to the regular Joe..the brainwashing mechanism is just too powerful for that..left or right..and I only stated that “we” should have established peace by now since “we” only engage in wars for the “pursuit of freedom”...
Yes, that is correct, 5 years.