Recent comments
ADHD: Hunter in a Farmer's World
Thom Hartmann has written a dozen books covering ADD / ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder.
Join Thom for his new twice-weekly email newsletters on ADHD, whether it affects you or a member of your family.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Why should we cut our social programs? The Democrats created them and now, the voters of both parties depend on them. Why isn't anyone talking about the bloated defense budget or capital gains and dividend tax increases?
Furthermore just because something is written as a law does not mean it is an absolute...Especially when it allows far greater crimes to be commited.
That is your opinion and you are entitled to it. What type of disapline do feel he should receive?
If Pvt. Manning should be punished, don't you agree that the classified information Pvt. Manning leaked should lead to a trial of war crimes commited by the Bush Adminastration and Obama Adminastration. It is one thing to give information to aid the enemy...Pvt. Manning did not do that; nor did wikileaks for that matter.
I have a good sense about people and can usually tell who has a compassionate heart and a sharp mind...You friend have both.
In my early years of education I was board; here in Fl. many high school coaches end up teaching classes that they have no business teaching, and that is unfortunate for the students, unless of course you are an athlete.
Anyway my history teacher sucked; it wasn't untill I was at West Point that I begain to discover and learn the meat & potatos of our country. It was Howard Zinn's A People's Histroy of the United States and the enthusiasm of an actual Histroy Professor who sparked a fire under my butt to learn the truths about our country's rich and - as you put it - sordid past. Eight years later in the spring of 1999, after having experienced and witnessed first hand the the globally destructive ways of the U.S. Government, I declared myself a Consciencious Objector and left the Army. Then in 2009 I got to attend one of Howard Zinn's lectures on the History of War and Peace. For 90 min. the room sat and listened with complete attention. I was so glad to have had the opportunity to see him speak in person. He died 1 year later.
It gives me great pleasure to know that more and more students are being introduced Howard Zinn and his book "A People's History of the United States".
What will our options be if they do this? I've been pleased to see the President stay firm so far, but it's so difficult when we're dealing with Republican Terrorists.
You all have good talking points and I am impressed by how disagreement has spurred others on to make comments concerning their experience and views on our government. But with all respect I still contend the government fears us about as much as a hungry wolf fears the sheep he is about to have for a meal. The number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War was 58,000 and the North lost 1.1 million military personnel and with an estimation of between .5 to 2 million civilians killed. I just checked the figures via Explorer to make sure. If personnel decide for themselves which laws they will obey and which laws they will not, all discipline breaks down and you no longer have a military that is functional. A soldier can disobey a direct order to do something illegal and the military courts will determine the legitimacy of such an act. (i.e. shooting a civilian during war) Manning just simply took it upon himself to break his oath to the military and therefore should be punished at some level or discipline can break down and precedence for such an act could have far reaching negative consequences to the military as a whole.
Thanks for your kind words, Aliceinwonderland...you're right, we all have to hang together on the most important things. It's perfectly ok to have differences and we shouldn't get too upset over them otherwise we are just shooting ourselves in the foot..or, perhaps, more like committing suicide...let's not do the wealthy any favors.
I've read a little of both Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. I bought and read various books from both a long time ago. I especially liked Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. One of the most memorable, and sad, stories was that of the Trail of Tears..the forced relocation and movement of a number of Native American tribes from the warmer southeastern parts of the US across to the west...many died of exposure..including 4000 of the 15,000 Cherokee Indians. All because greedy white men refused to get along with them and wanted their lands. And then there was the story of the United States first use of weapons of mass destruction...using biological warfare...against the American Indians when they purposely exposed and infected tribes with blankets exposed with smallpox. Whole families were wiped out. The US has a very sordid and disgraceful history that only people like Howard Zinn, and few others, have ever brought to the surface.
The book can be read on-line:
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html
or, if you like audio books...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwq_jiTjAuY&list=PL66E9E8ED0E72A904&index=1
but, of course, there is really nothing like having a hard copy to add to your library...besides...the royalties help out Howard Zinn's heirs...which is totally worth it. It definitely encourages that kind of behavior which is most desirable. In fact, I might even buy another hard copy book..if I can find one...the paperback version I have is falling apart.
You got that right sister...What makes us powerful is our ability to unite and stand together as comrades in solidarity, regardless of race, religion, sexual oriantation, financial status, etc...I have a saying; 99%+1%=100% accountable. Those who do not accept this tend to be the problem. Sure there will be differences of opinion, that's life. What seems to confuse many people (Left or Right) about the Occupy Movement - which is a bubbleing coldren of all walks of life - is that they are not a Left or Right philosophical movement.
Some of my wealthier friends, comprised of Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Progressives, side with the movement when it comes to enforcing regulations on Wall St, prosecuting those that commited fraud, abolishing the bush tax cuts, and increasing wages to a "liveable" level; which I am happy to say two friends that own successful small businesses have starting wages of $16.00 per hour; also quarterly production bonuses (for all employees), medical benefits, and 15 days paid vacation.
Some of these friends even support a Universal Healthcare system, and improving government grants for education. Then again these friends don't wall themselves off from Main st...You wanna know why???Because they haven't forgotten where they came from, and that there are many people who are to be recognized and compansated for building their businesses success.
They also understand that not everyone wants to go to a University. We need skilled trade workers and people to drive trucks, pilot ships and trains to move goods, work in manufacturing, If everybody goes to Harvard business school who is going to build a house, or pick up the garbage? These are honest and important jobs; just as those that require fancy and often overrated degrees.
I have absolutly no problem what-so-ever with someone making a ton of money, owning two Benzes, a Bently, a yacht, and a jet. Just remember who keeps the wheel rolling while you are streached out sunning yourself token' a Monte Cristo on your tropical island.
And as you pointed out; No one person "earns" $30k and hour...It takes the whole hive to make honey and keep the queen alive! Best to keep your workers happy and healthy by compansating them an honest livable wage for their blood, sweat, and tears. ciao
Its great to see fresh creative idea that have never been done. Leeds seo company
Palindromedary also makes some excellent points about the many ways those in positions of power have manipulated and controlled the "masses". I too have given this much thought, while wondering about the limits of what people here will tolerate from a system rigged so completely against us.
Another thing you'll never hear me dispute is the assertion that these wars are all about MONEY, about feeding the military industrial complex and all its profiteers. I have not, nor will I ever, defend the warmongers- they who are the bane of our collective existence and evil incarnate! I challenge anyone to identify a single legitimate war this country has engaged in, during my 62 years on this planet. (My hunch was right, Ken; we are almost the same age.)
I've not read Howard Zinn's books, I'm embarrassed to say, although I've heard him speak many times. I have always wanted to get a copy of his People's History Of The United States and read it cover to cover, but never quite got around to it. Oh well, it's on my wish list... - Aliceinwonderland
Palindromedary says it well, reminding us how our similarities outweigh our differences and that we need to stop bickering with each other so we can direct our focus on the real enemy. Because whatever our conflicts, it doesn't sound like there's much disagreement among us over who that real enemy is.
Were there ever a time for us all to set our differences aside and come together, it is now. Remember comrades, nothing scares these toadies more than the prospect of us "little" people united against them. As Palindromedary points out, they are nothing without us and it is THEY who are dependent on US.
Ken, you come across as a grouch when you accuse another person of "self delusion", or make intrusive, caustic remarks such as: "Sorry to bust your bubble of self worth..." Not exactly (ahem!) diplomatic, my friend! We all call it as we see it and oftentimes must agree to disagree, and just leave it at that. We progressives aren't so in lockstep with our thinking as those ditto heads on the neo-con side of the fence. We should accept occasional differences of opinion as simply routine. Even when interpretations of reality sharply contradict, we don't have to be rude to each other. No need to make this personal.
Danke Schoen, Muchas Gracias, and Shukran!
Yesssss! Well said!! Bang`n the nail on the head!!!
The military, itself, is an organization that has to follow orders otherwise it would cease to be useful as a military organization...but then so was the Wehrmacht but even worse was the SS who committed many atrocious war crimes. Some, after the war, were even selected for hanging...others were selected to work for the US Government...building rockets, and such.
I wonder what would happen to our Military and high officials if some superior entity invaded and took over our government? UN? Get outta town! China? They might stop shipping us iphones, laptops, and missile parts. And I suspect they would have ample ammunition to convict many American war criminals. They too could, perhaps, force American citizens to dig up the graves of and view the remains of America's victims all throughout Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.
Now, you can't even see the body bags of our dead soldiers being brought back from the Middle East. Our major main stream news media won't even give a hint about the atrocities our military has committed over there...no scenes of bloody children crying out in agony...but you get a better view on alternative news channels like Al Jazeera, Link TV, FSTV, RT and Wikileaks. You have a better understanding of the realities by watching those channels than you do watching corporate and CIA/Pentagon-controlled news media.
The soldiers are not, themselves, necessarily criminal....they are doing what they are ordered to do by the war criminals who command them and that goes all the way up to the top..where the buck (blame) is supposed to stop. But, if you look closer you will realize that the President is not the top...he is largely just a puppet.
The soldiers have been just as beguiled into committing atrocities against civilians as the German soldiers were. There are some, of course, who were more eager than others to murder people. But, of course, in our moment of brazen hypocrisy, during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, we coined the phrase.."just following orders is no excuse". No politician or Joint Chiefs of Staff wants us to think about the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials.
Maybe one possible reason why it took over a decade,despite the demonstrations, was that the demonstrations were not violent enough on the part of the demonstrators. Sure, a lot of people would have been killed (and a couple were murdered by the National Guard at the DNC in Kent State); but, then perhaps a lot of people would have been saved...especially many of the 56,000 combat troops that died and the over a million Vietnamese that were murdered by our military. But then, back then, demonstrations were mostly about anti-Vietnam war. We didn't suffer the kinds of horrible economic conditions back then as has happened in the last 30 years. People were still working and making a decent living with no propaganda of "fiscal cliffs"..no massive bailouts to the Wall Street scamsters and banksters and no threats to our social programs back then. People were getting health care insurance as part of compensation from their employers...and their jobs were not being shipped overseas. They were all mostly making a decent wage for their labor. The masses were not in a overall feeling of despair back then as now.
Nixon was really scared, as it was, that the demonstrators would grow in numbers and become very violent. This was proven in statements he made that are now part of archived history. Yes, he was worried about being indicted for crimes but he was even more worried that the demonstrators would burst into the White House and lynch the son-of-a-stitch in his Oval Office.
No one wants to see violence. And they pick up on that which lets them continue their plunder; but, that seems to be the only language that many people in power seem to understand. And unless there is the possibility of that happening...the politicians will continue to use rhetoric, lies, and deceit to keep the people in line.
FDR would never have had the teeth to convince other politicians, and their wealthy puppet masters, to make reforms if it hadn't been for a long stretch of violence and fear that it could get a lot worse...reminiscing the French Revolution, perhaps.
There could be a shift, however, as evidenced by the several political wins that, on the basis of overwhelming political contributions of the opposition, the opposition lost. We need to keep this up...and if the world is still here in 2014* and if Americans overwhelmingly boot out the right wing culprits we may have a chance of avoiding violence. I certainly hope so.
I also praise and support Bradley Manning and Julian Assange for exposing the war crimes that evil men did in our name. What Bradley Manning did was honor the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial mandate that "just following orders is no excuse". Bradley Manning is a hero!
*The world is supposed to end (yet again) on Dec 21, 2012 according to the crazies who believe in the end of the Mayan Calender foreboding the world's destruction on that date. Throw in the planet Niburu, a few hark the herald angles sing, a hocus pocus, and a black cat's meow at the stroke of midnight! Damn, start the count down d-12 days and counting.....who's gonna have an end of the world party on Dec 21, 2012? Or should that be on the eve of Dec. 20, 2012?
Cont. Ken
...as far as the Occupy Movement goes...The laws and policies they are protesting will not change over night...but they have had an impact. As I said earlier; protestings first agenda is to organize and inform.
As Gandhi once said; "First they ignor you, then they ridicule you...then they attack you...Then you win."
Trying to change/reform laws and policies of any kind; be it our economic system, education system, Civil system, Justice system, Energy policy, Foreign policy, etc. is unfortunatly a slow arduous process, but and it is a BIG BUT anything worth balancing and maintaning for the good of ALL is worth the time and energy that it takes; it's just sad that "doing right" takes 10x the effort and time than doing wrong.
Ken I do not disagree that our government has their own agenda set forth by the Rothchilds, and a few other corrupt capitalist families that "run the show" and bet on both sides of the battle field.
As well I agree with you that most Americans know more about the Kardashians (sp?) than they do about Pvt. Manning and Assange. However I salute Pvt. manning and find what he did to be heroic.
I come from a career military family on both sides and when I graduated high school I followed suit. I was in the Army for 8 years...Eventually, I woke up and Declared myself as a Conscientious Objector in 99 and did not reinlist. To me what Pvt Manning did was to actually serve his country.
When we take that oath...it is about protecting the United Staesand its people from tyranny. However our government IS the very tyranny we are suppose to destroy.
I still to this day stand by and support our soldiers, however I could not continue to be a pawn for the war machine. `Nother soldier...`Nother sucker...Not me! I refused to be apart of a plot to destroy those that are of no threat to our wellbeing. As well I refused to be a part of a system that endangers and dismantles the saftey and liberties of its own people with lies.
Perhaps I am wrong, but unless you can show me how our government's policies have changed it is still just an undocumented theory. As far as Ellsberg goes the only change was the fact that Nixon would resign for being part of a crime that had taken place and he did not want to go to trial. Wall St. is stronger than ever and the protesters have not changed policy decisions on Wall St. or in Washington. The only real changes have been new laws restricting protesters from various types of protesting and where they can protest. Manning and Assange have not changed any policies concerning Washington and the only difference is that Manning will serve time for revealing classified information he swore an oath he would not reveal such information. Assange and Wikkileaks have not changed any policies by the Fed.'s and he is facing charges of releasing classified information.The Whistle blowers on Wall St. have had an affect where a few people have been charged with felonies and the rest of the Banksters are doing the same business as they have been all along. NOTHING has changed since all the protesting across the country and the police have had the opportunity to practice their crowd control methods. A few cops have been fired for excessive force and that is about it. The protesters did not bring the war in Vietnam to an early closure; it was the costs of the war that brought the war to an end. We virtually turned our back on S. Vietnam when congress cut all funding for the war in 75', leaving the South defenseless to save money. The protests did bring attention to several situations that our government was involved in, but no policy changes were implemented. I think it is a good thing we practice freedom of speech through our protests, but there has been very little change do to the protesting. Greece and Spain have had major protests and it accomplished nothing in real terms. The same can be said about the Wall St. protests. Governments listen to the people with the cash and Europe is a perfect example of who governments listen to. Unless you’re willing to go to physical war with any government, nothing changes. The Banksters control political policy in America, not the citizens who protest. The only real power is in the ballot box during an election year and we have had success in that area, but just marginally compared to what money has been able to accomplish in our country. Sad to say, but true
It makes sense that, in this world of computer technology, that every piece of information that goes to any business or government office is scanned for keywords to get the general drift of what is being communicated and then summary reports are accessed by lowly workers in business or government who further filter them into simple data (a percentage, perhaps) that higher ups use to make decisions.
We all have received form letters or emails from both businesses and government. Your initial letter or email did nothing more that activate another computer program to printout canned responses...and the computer enters your name to make it seem personal. But it is not.
Actually, Echelon works similarly...they collect and store billions of pieces of data communications every day..phones, email, what programs you're watching on Dish or DirectTV (if you have cable...or if you actually hook up your Dish Network* phone lines used, ostensibly, to update, but covertly... to spy)...whatever! And, they use computer dictionaries to flag certain words...then if a positive flag happens, the whole document or conversation is put before an analyst for analysis. And they probably have quite a few analysts who speak a variety of languages. The words for the dictionary computer can be decided on for that time period and fed into the computer. Analysts can learn a lot about how our government REALLY works...like Sibil Edmonds!
I knew this way back in the 70s when I worked at a government office dealing with social security. I worked on the archival equipment that photographed letters that people sent in to their congressmen/women..or the President...and turned them into micro-strips that were put into readers located all through-out those buildings..the micro-photos on those strips could be accessed by id number controlled by a central computer...that I also maintained. And hard copies could be retrieved from the strips stored on any of the strip readers as well as viewed on a screen. I was able to read many of those documents and realized what was going on. The intended recipients had aides, or workers, who would scan the letters and any mention of "social security" would tell the worker to send the letters off to social security to be photographed, micro-stripped, and assigned the id number. I told my dad who was a very well educated man who dealt with the government a lot and who had written many times to various government officials how this operated and he was somewhat taken aback at this. He, like so many other people, thought their letters or email would actually be read by the recipient...or at least that the recipient would actually get the message somehow.
I suspect that with the current technology, if you write a letter to your Congressman/woman, or the President, that computers will sort, and record addresses from the envelopes (and since some people's handwriting is practically impossible for computer scanners to read they may have an operator assisted correction equipment..which they also had been using way back in the 70s in the Pentagon..optical character recognition system -OCR), automatically sort them, open them, scan for key words to get the general drift (and you spent so much time and effort in trying to spell correctly and word your document so that "they" will think you are intelligent and educated), and tally up into categories.
With email, this is even easier.
Then, computers will send you a form letter telling you how much they appreciate your participation in good government, put your name on the letter and automatically mail them to you. You have not, in any real sense, influenced anyone..you have just wasted a lot of time and a stamp if you mailed a letter.
The end result is that, perhaps the President, or Congressmen/women will glance at their computer screen and see a percentage of people who agree or disagree with an issue and then the President or Congressman/woman will utter some expletive and include the word "idiots!" and continue fund raising from rich capitalists who are the real influence in this so-called "democracy". They are the real influence because the system is corrupt to the extent that most politicians believe that only money matters. The people... they can lie to and use blustery rhetoric, and campaigners, to convince the people that their only alternative is to vote for the least evil candidate.
*You don't actually have to connect your phone lines to the DishTV receiver...unless you want to update the software on your receiver. Also, occasionally, Dish will send out a "bullet" to break the reception in case you have a pirated id card stuck in your receiver. In that case you need to connect to the phone line to recover. I don't know if information about your viewing habits are stored in memory..in which case that would defeat the paranoid attempt at preventing Dish to see what you are watching. It stands to reason, however, if you are constantly connected to the phone line that they would be able to monitor, real-time, what you are watching. As your Dish receiver and antenna do not transmit, that I know of, just receives information, a connected phone-line would make it easy to spy on your viewing habits.
You forgot Daniel Elsberg and the famous "Pentagon Papers" and how that too played a key role in ending the U.S's involvment in the Vietnam War. Along with exposing Nixion's Adminastration.
Elsberg's actions were certainly "in protest" of what the corrupt U.S. Government was doing...which was basically misleading the American people. Not much different than today...Pvt. Manning, and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Without Whistle Blowers, Conscientious Objectors, and in general, everyday people that exercise their moral obligations as watch dogs and stand in protest against the corrupt actions of Government(s) we would never have seceded from England.
Oh I certainly do agree that ALL wars are motivated by money and the U.S. Government is not void from this. But I do not agree with you that protest do not work. First of all the main pupose of any protest is to draw attention and inform the masses. True the Occupy Movment seems weak in that it dosent have a "party leader" but it certainly has the voice of a mass of people from all walks of life and it still plays a huge role in informing people (voters).
The United States has a long history of striff and struggle, and for a brief portion of that history we were Of the People, By the People and For the People. That is until We the People allowed our Supreme Court to rule that corporations are a people. And it will be through protest, be it millions in the streets around the country or letters to news papers and elected officials, that turns that ruling around.
Excellent point regarding language.
Ever read Howard Zinn's "You Can't Be Nutural On A Moving Train"? Ever read any of Zinn's work? I really like the forward he wrote for his book "The People's History of The United States". There he addresses the misunderstandings between facts and perspectives.
Aliceinwonderland - Old, grouchy and a cynic! Ha! I am 60 and to some people that is old, I call it experienced. Grouchy, no I am not grouchy, but I guess some people are more sensitive than others like me. Cynic I am not, a REALIST I am. I call the game the way I see it being played. The demonstrators did little to end the war and if you go back and look at the time line starting in the early to mid-60's to the point of complete withdrawal from Vietnam was 11+years. We defunded the war in 1975 and allowed the South Vietnamese government to go it alone and the North defeated the South with the weaponry supplied by China and Russia. As in most wars we have fought we eventually turn our backs on our comrades. As far as still being in a fighting war without the protesters, that never would have happened. Take a look at South Korea and the fighting stopped their within three years. We still have a small ground military there and we have our military personnel in Japan in the event it should go hot again. Money is the primary motivator in all the wars we have fought and it is generally a gauge of how successful we have been. When we talk about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars we also talk about the money factor and how long we will be funding those countries once we no longer have troops on the ground. The Dept. of Homeland Security purchased 350,000,000 rounds of ammunition and their function is to maintain security against those who would disrupt business as usual here in the U.S.. They did not buy it to confront Canada or Mexico, it was bought in the event they have to maintain the American public, should civil disobedience occur. Why, so we cannot disrupt business as usual in any form we might take. So, the politicians are more concerned with riots than with marches. I believe it is a good thing to have peaceful marches to express our concerns, but that is only a concern for the politicians if it is an election year. I believe the messages sent to the White House are never read, but are scanned by computers for key words that might contain threats to our government. Not a cynic, a realist.
"Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head "
lyrics from Jefferson Airplane-White Rabbit
--learn
I believe that most of us, here, have basic agreements although we all have certain, what others would call peccadilloes (wedge issues?), perhaps, in our thinking. None of us will likely think 100% alike and I suppose the trick is to not let small differences stand between our primary goals of survival and pursuit of happiness. It doesn't take much to trigger someone's ire sometimes. But if we all realize that our similarities are much greater than our differences then we may be able to pull together and eventually defeat our real enemies.
Who causes wars, and why? How about even World Wars? So we had a major stock market crash in 1929, a result of a few extremely wealthy people gambling big time creating financial schemes, and suckering in millions of other hopeful Americans that they would also "make it big". Big bankers and corporations were scheming to create situations that would make them even wealthier.
History often seems to repeat itself..just like in the 1920s the scamsters were using other people's money, luring people into believing that they needed to gamble their money in the stock market, buy huge mortgages using "creative" financing...never mind rumors of "bubbles" bursting or what had happened in the 1920s. Get in while the gettin's good! And people fell for it. And, of course, the few scammers took advantage.
War makes a hell of a lot of money for a few people manipulating us into wars, and often, irrespective of the outcome. War also tends to distract from what the financial tricksters are doing to us right here at home.
It was known by a few in Europe and America that Japan had been pillaging Manchuria and China and then the rest of South East Asia for over 50 years stealing all their gold, jewels, and anything else of worth and hording it...stashing it away. Trillions of dollars worth of gold was buried in over a hundred mines in the Philippines by forced Filipino and American POW laborers who were murdered and buried in those mines. The US and Marcos got most of it. But there is still a lot of undiscovered gold buried or sunk in Philippine waters just waiting to be found by treasure hunters...but don't fall for buying maps from a Filipino...they're fake. Oh, and look out for the booby trap explosive and lethal gas bombs buried in those mines.
It was also known that Germany was doing the same in it's sphere of influence...stealing all the gold and jewels and paintings and everything else of worth from the Jews and others it had conquered. After Western bankers and corporations made lots of money while doing business with the Japanese and the Nazis (eg: IBM tabulating machines), they reaped a whole lot more after the fall of Nazi Germany and Japan. Read about Operation Golden Lily and Black Eagle Fund. Ever wonder what funded the cold war? Ever wonder where all that gold bullion in the US came from? And why does the US "hold" gold deposits of other countries? According to Max Keiser..60% of all German gold is being held at the Fed in New York (episode 358). "The German court of auditors..has demanded that the Bundesbank undertake an audit of its gold reserves. In an 'audit-the-fed' style effort, the court wants to ensure that the nearly 3400 tons of gold is in fact in existence - 'because stocks have never been checked for authenticity and weight'." --zerohedge.com "The powerful implication here is that German gold in London was sold a the behest of the United States and in exchange Germany took title to United States gold vaulted in the United States."--GATA.org And other countries are similar.
http://rt.com/programs/keiser-report/episode-358-max-keiser/
Then it was the Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War, and all the other little LIC (Low Intensity Conflict) wars. They were all wars...but none really called wars since even Truman didn't even want to call the Korean War a War. Then it was the Drug War, and now the war on terrorists. These are all manipulations by those with all the money to drain even more money away from those who can least afford it. The American banking system would collapse if it wasn't for laundering illegal drug money. And illegal drug prices would shoot down to practically nothing if they were not "illegal". There would be no drug wars. Take the illegality of drugs away and you take the profit out of it.
At least, after WW2 and the Korean War...the wealthy were heavily taxed..as they should have been..(it was their wars, after all, even though they propagandized us into believing they were defending democracy..or some other BS). And before you unwittingly defend the indefensible war mongers...look into the real causes of these wars...what led up to them...what arrogant and greedy leaders did in support of their arrogant and greedy ruling elite.
I'd say the majority of people in the US are really liberals to the largest extent but are conservative in a "wedge issue" extent. The "wedge issues" tend to divide and conquer and are played out very well by the conservatives as they own the major news media and can pretty much control the propaganda.