When good people are called by their conscience to stand against an evil that they perceive to be done in their own names and do nothing, than they are complicit in that evil. To do nothing in the face of genocide and the destruction of an innocent country’s infrastructure, and to turn the other cheek while your government fosters anarchy in a land where they do not belong, makes you complicit. To allow children to beg in the streets for food because the men in the city or village have been taken away by those that support endless war for finite resources makes you part of the problem. We are all Americans, and by letting this happen to the people of Iraq, we are all complicit in some degree or another.
You can say that you have tried to stop this carnage. That is not enough. You can say you are against our government’s policies and that too is not enough. You can say that you have supported every initiative to leave Iraq but we are still there, so evidently that too is not enough. Our government, as criminally complicit in terror as anyone that has attacked us, is now trying to make the case in attacking another nation, this time Iran. It matters not whether the people want it, it is a matter of a government that desires conquest over diplomacy, war over peace, death over life.
The answer lies in the hands of all Americans. The way to end this war is not an easy one to take and is fraught with danger to our loved ones and to us. Still, the only way to get this government to listen is to speak with a voice that drowns out their objections. The only thing that this government seems to care about is money. Money is what allows them to continue their nefarious business around the globe for world domination and resources.
There are ways that we can take the money out of their hands. One way is to get the politicians that vote for funding this war out of the government. That includes Democrats as well as Republicans. We need to send an unmistakable message to Congress that we will no longer condone funding the war of aggression against another nation. We can also refuse to buy products that are advertised on the mainstream media that supports the government “spin” on this war. We can stop the economy by buying second hand products including refurbished appliances, automobiles and other products that will cause the government to re-think their world policies by sinking the profits of those that support them. We can refuse to use our credit cards and only buy what is absolutely necessary.
This is an economic sanction brought against our own government by our own citizens. To blithely spend money that supports the war effort makes each and every one of us complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Putting our hard-earned money back into the economy so that the government can build the machines of war with a seemingly unlimited budget fosters the use of aggression. We can still support our merchants by buying reconditioned products. To live in a society of planned obsolescence for the products we buy new, causes not only money to feed the military, but encourages our industries to do more of the same.
There is an old saying; “Evil happens when good men do nothing”. This is something we can all do. The money you save from refusing to buy new products that feed our military industrial complex could be used to help people with nothing, or you could donate that money to organizations that want to stop our current course.
This is the way I see it.
Labels: Economic Sanctions, Military Industrial Complex, War