20170521 Would ending war end our "Lifestyle"?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-american-way-of-war-is-a-budget-breaker_us_5911d17de4b0a58297df7f59

Perhaps it would be more appropriate to ask, “Is our ‘lifestyle’ worth anything, if we can keep it only by preserving war?” Do you think for even a second the people dying at the end of our missile strikes care whether our vainglorious and self-indulgent culture deserves to persist if it can do so only by a periodic purge of the lives of other nations?

A similar question could be raised, “Will American men still be able to be boisterous, outgoing, and filled with self-confidence, if as a body they are required to forego any and all manner of rape?” It is far more important that men end their aggressive dominance over women than whether as a result of assuming responsibility for control of their urges somebody thinks they’re less manly.

So as far as I am concerned the economic feasibility of giving up war is a non-issue. Whether we are financially better off or worse has no bearing. We have to give up war. We have to give it up so sincerely as no longer even to prepare for war.

How will a capitalist society manage if it cannot seize the minerals and resources of other nations? It will manage. Just as the buggy whip makers adapted to the rise of the automobile, war workers will be available for other needs. I will not speculate here what those needs will be nor how we will meet them, but if we can have the wisdom to turn from wantonly killing, surviving and caring for each other will be a far easier problem to overcome.

We know the earth cannot sustain the total exploitation involved in our “lifestyle.” If somehow everyone worldwide would be jacked up to American consumption levels the air would be unbreathable in days. There might be enough iron available to give each of the 170+ nations a dozen aircraft carriers to plough the oceans menacingly, but not enough time to train their sailors, or sufficient uranium to stoke their reactors. The concept is so brainless yet many Americans think we can continue being rich as Croesus forever, always wealthier than others.

Giving up war, its hellish waste of all that is good in the world and in us, and living sustainably without question is our only course. We could get back to the things that are true marks of human civilization—education, health, meaningful work for all, and living in peace and mutual respect for our brothers and sisters over the whole world.

c. J.S.Manista 2017