America Did Not Vote For More Death And Destruction!

Silly Us, We Thought We Voted For Something Else

Silly us who thought we were voting for less war and a world where America would stop shooting itself in the foot. Many of us were seeking a world where the leadership in Washington would focus on bringing both jobs and money home rather than squandering it on foreign wars. While Trump promised to support the military few of us thought he would explode the budget and pursue a course that moved America into conflict on multiple fronts. In a piece written by David Stockman, posted on Friday, April 13th, 2018, he states;

• Among the reasons Democrats nominated Barack Obama and America elected him was that his opponents, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, supported the Iraq war Obama opposed.
• Among the reasons the Republican Party nominated Trump and the nation elected him was that he promised to take us out and keep us out of wars like the one in Syria.
•  Is it not ironic that today our War Party, which, almost to a man, loathed Trump and rejected his candidacy, is goading and cheering him on, deeper and deeper into the Syrian quagmire?

Stockman,  who served as a Republican U.S. Representative from the state of Michigan and as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, contends that President Trump has become a hostage of those occupying the very swamp he promised to drain. This is how Stockman explains many of the actions that have dismayed the many of us who voted for Trump partly because he did not come across as a warmonger during the presidential campaign. If Stockman is right it could be that the power of the swamp is too strong and simply cannot be drained.

Concrete Visual Proof Of Iran's Aggression!

Trump recently brought John Bolton into his inner circle as his next national security adviser, in some ways this is the very antithesis of America First and the policy of anti-interventionism. Bolton is an emissary for what might be considered the wing of the Republican Party that views war as a major tool and a satisfactory way of achieving foreign policy. This extends to demonizing Iran and acting to glue together a coalition of rightwing groups that want out of the agreement with Iran that lifted crippling economic sanctions on Iran in return for limitations to the country's controversial nuclear energy programme and efforts to create a nuclear weapon.

Ironically if the deal is not broken and Iran sticks to the bargain in many ways it will show the entire world the almost four-decade-long demonization campaign that has been conducted against Iran by the neocons in Washington and Israel has been nothing more than fabricated lies. Clearly, spinning angst against Iran has been very beneficial to those seeking both power and money to counter Iran ever being able to acquire a nuclear bomb. By hyping the threat of Iran to America and all of the Middle East many of the same people that originally opposed Trump and have gone to such great effort to bring Trump under control appear to be much more aligned.

The article you are currently reading is actually a "twofer" or two drafts that I had started rolled into one. It pulls together two different thoughts or topics, "Silly Us We Thought We Were Voting For Something Else" and the idea that, "When Your Country Goes To War Your Opinion Does Not Matter." After studying history it becomes obvious that countries are drawn or march into war for many reasons, however, as a nation moves towards war that does not mean many or most of that country's citizens are all that enthusiastic. Even as institutions begin to go through the ritual of preparing them for what lies ahead this does not mean the average person will endorse military action.

The deep State Lurks Hidden Below The Surface

Throughout history, we find that institutions have traditionally done the heavy lifting when a government signals that war is on the horizon. These are generally the institutions we have come to refer and describe as the "Deep State." The term was originally used to refer to sophisticated shadow governments in less transparent countries and when related to America was considered a conspiracy theory. Those touting its existence see it as a coordinated effort by career government employees to influence state policy without regard for democratically elected leadership. 

This would include many of the most powerful men of the last several decades that still retain the influence and power to command the armies of armed agents and have the ability to target, bug and wiretap almost anyone. This gives them virtually unlimited power to influence government regardless of who is formally in power. Shadow governments are the legacy of the bureaucracies formed as part of the top secret inner-workings of military and spy agencies dating back to the end of World War II. These are an expansion of what President Dwight Eisenhower deemed the “military-industrial complex” and extend into influencing and controlling the media in what they call the national interest.

An article written several years ago claims there is the visible government situated around the Mall in Washington, and then there is another, more shadowy, more indefinable government that is not explained in Civics 101 or observable to tourists or a public watching C-SPAN sees daily and which is theoretically controllable via elections." One former congressional staffer offered up the following definition of the deep state on Bill Moyers:

“(The Deep State) is a hybrid of national security and law enforcement agencies: the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Justice Department. I also include the Department of the Treasury because of its jurisdiction over financial flows, its enforcement of international sanctions and its organic symbiosis with Wall Street.”

This all circles back around to the current warmongering that has captured Washington and turned us into pawns in a high stake game where a miscalculation could release a wave of nuclear missiles into the sky. We should question if those who stand to benefit have designed all this thirst for blood as a giant con or trick to blind us to reality. A ploy to glorify their militaristic actions bolstered by the gullibility of those local and family historians who provide stories with a kind of “band of brothers” nostalgia that neatly repackages or camouflages ugly and brutal death with heroism. The fact is few soldiers and innocent civilians rush to sacrifice themselves but are sacrificed by the state.

The fact that in the charged political atmosphere of today we would take our moral cues from a gang of former intelligence officials is an indication the problems of our society run far deeper than we can imagine. With the threat of impeachment always lurking in the background we should remember the Washington insiders have never been Trump's friend and would love to see him fall to the vengeful furies of the broad witchhunt Robert Mueller is conducting. We should also remember many of the people the President has allowed into his circle are the residents of the very same swamp he campaigned against. The line of the day should be "Been there, done that, learned nothing!"


Footnote; The links below lead to articles related to the post above.
    http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2018/03/nuclear-weapons-we-are-ready-to-launch.html
    http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2017/04/trump-comes-across-bit-too-clever-for.html
    http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2017/07/iran-and-reason-for-its-deep-distrust.html
    http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2018/01/news-and-talk-shows-obsessed-with-trump.html