We Say Peace, They Say War

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THE TERRIBLE TIMES

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WE SAY PEACE, THEY SAY WAR

BYDAVID ARTHUR WALTERS

Wednesday, March 05, 2003

They say war makes America great.

"America is dealing death, not only to people in other lands, but to its own

people. So say the most thoughtful and passionate of our youth, from California



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to Connecticut.... We think of ourselves as an incredibly rich country, but we are

beginning to realize that we are also a desperately poor country - poor in most of

the things that throughout the history of mankind have been cherished as riches.

A revolution is coming. It will not be like revolutions of the past. It will originate

with the individual and with culture, and it will change the political structure only

as its final act. It will not require violence to succeed, and it cannot be successfully

resisted by violence. It is now spreading with amazing rapidity, and already our

laws, institutions and social structure are changing in consequence. It promises a

higher reason, a more human community, and a new liberated individual. Its

ultimate creation will be an enduring wholeness and beauty - a renewed

relationship of man to himself, to other men, to society, to nature, and to the

land." -Charles A. Reich, The Greening of America (1970)

Yes, of that much we can be certain, we had a dream recurring time and time

again throughout the ages - we think the Neanderthal man dreamed it too. We

dreamed that love would make us whole again. We believed a radical revolution

would turn the hearts of all that they might beat in harmony. We believed the

New World would lead the Old World to make love not war. We disbelieved those

of our fathers who said, "He who loves everybody loves nobody." Universal love

seemed assured at the time, as if it were guaranteed by necessity itself. It all

seemed perfectly logical in our youth. Now, thirty years later, a few of us are still

dreaming, but barely, as the rest say, "That is all it is, a dream, and you dream in

vain." We beg to disagree at our graveside as the parties of war prepare men and

women for mutual murder. We hear not the throbbing of our hearts but the

beating of war drums. We hear the raucous screeching of warhawks, and if we

look far to the horizon, we see the vultures gathering at great heights. Our

pathetic song is barely heard. The opinion polls are against us, and that is that.

We are not entirely to blame for the hell on Earth we call a state of war, for wehave had fierce opposition, the same opposition our forebears encountered, from

the same old party, the war party, the party of they. Who are they? We are they,

from time to time, and, vice versa, they are us. But there is at least a formal

difference to be drawn between the fractions - we have not given up our dreams

of love and peace. They say utopia will never happen, not on their watch, not if



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they have anything to do with it, for, as far as they are concerned, our mission is

and always has been and forever will be a mission impossible, and an evil one at

that, a road to hell, in fact, ruled by killers.

After all, what sort of man would say that it is better to suffer an evil than to doone? better to be murdered and even to stand by while his own people are

murdered than to do murder? Surely only Satan would make such a revolutionary

claim! Or a mad man, for only an insane man would prefer to die than to kill. Put

him to death, they say, for he is the enemy of humankind, we must kill one

another to love one another, we must make war to keep peace.

And if we demur they say we are cowards hiding behind the guns they wave in

our faces. If we advocate world peace, they call us unpatriotic. If we speak of

universal love, they deny its existence, then lay down barbed wire and write

poems about clean brotherly love in war trenches. If we question their

constitutional interpretation, they accuse us of uttering sedition. If we protest

their resolve to murder people in a faraway land, they call us un-American at

home. If we cite the inalienable rights of man, they reply with alien and sedition

laws. And now they move to assassinate suspects without a trial, suspend habeus

corpus, make secret arrests, torture prisoners, and strip citizens of their

citizenship.

If we plead for the abolition of war to save millions of lives, they say providing

better social security programs to soldiers is more to the point because war is

inevitable to human progress. Moreover they say we must always make war, for

we will never be perfect until death do us forever part in the embrace of their

great god, Death.

If we talk about ethics, they put profit before principle, preach free trade at

gunpoint, and idolize their pseudo-conservative economists. If we speak of right

over might, they say might is the only right. If we say fair trade, they say their free

trade should be realized over our dead bodies. They recommend even the murder

of priests and nuns for their own good, providing the graves are carefully hidden -

their evil is in getting caught. They deal in death, in drugs and guns and laundered



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money, they consort with international criminals and commit crimes against

humanity - if we object, they say they are making the world safe for democracy.

If we say Jesus, they recommend the Pinochet-Friedman economic stimulus

program. If we say, free the man, they say, serve our political machine. If we sayshare, they say covet. If we petition for the living spirit, they give us the ghosts of

the war dead. If we say whole, they say part. If we say humankind, they say party.

If we preach perfection, they preach defection. In every hopeful metaphor and

positive proposition they find some fault, and, instead of praising the good, they

leap on the mistakes like a demented man on a sword, for they must find fault in

others to justify their own faults, and spill the blood of others to justify their

blood. If we advocate a right, they will eagerly find a wrong and embrace it to

vindicate their vindictiveness.

But we should not condemn them, for they are us. Those who hate the most are

most in want of love. We understand that an angry man is often angry because he

wants some good and does not know how to get it except by doing some evil.

Thus many have been murdered to realize even our perennial dream, the dream

of perpetual peace and universal love. It is the doctrine of hate that we must

hate, therefore we do not stoop to their evil and kill them. We and even saints

and angels will roast in hell if we adopt that doctrine, for, as we know very well,hate is hell. But then, war it will be because they will it.

Wait! There is some cause for hope! People all over the world have joined our

march for peace! The polls shows the majority is against the war! Hurrah! the

mother of vultures has spread her magnificent protective wings over us! Alas,

alas, we are soon crestfallen, for the war was inevitable all along. The great

commander-in-chief says it is up to him to decide that war is in our best interest -

in fact he was elected to make war so the world would be safe for his democracy

whether the world likes it or not. The decision has never rested with the people

but with king, dictator or president and their rubber stamps. Indeed, people of

this great nation of ours have been prosecuted for sedition for recommending

that the ultimate question of war or peace be decided by referendum. Once again



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America would deal death, not only to people in other lands, but to its own

people, and they say that is what makes America great.

-XYX

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We Say Peace, They Say War