It's Memorial Day in the US today and it's nearly impossible to avoid all the rhetoric. You can't flip through the TV channels in the US or see a sporting event without some announcement or event to honor the fallen soldiers.
But, what are soldiers in today's day and age? If they are paid to be in an Army then they are basically hired guns. People hired to murder other people. And if they are forced into an Army (conscription) then they are the victims of forced labor – forced to kill. And if they join voluntarily and kill others without compensation they can only best be described as brainwashed or demented people.
In any war in the last 50 years in the US there has been no justifiable reason for going to war or the justification to go to war has been a lie. So, if anyone were to volunteer to kill people in other countries for no good reason or for a lie, there can be no other description other than they've been brainwashed.
The US Needs No Standing Army
Of all countries on Earth, the one that needs a military the least is the US. Why? Gun ownership. An estimated 34 percent of the citizens in the United States own firearms, and there are thought to be more than 200 million firearms in private hands.
The world's largest army actually deploys to just a few States every fall in the US and they have nothing to do with the US Military. They are hunters. 600,000 in Wisconsin, 750,000 in Pennsylvania and 700,000 in Michigan. That, combined, is bigger than any other army in the world.
Yet, despite not needing a military whatsoever the US spends more than 50% of its annual Federal Government budget on military industrial complex expenditures.
These troops are deployed at 700 to 800 military bases worldwide with US military personnel in 156 countries and US Military bases in 63 countries. They are indiscriminately killing men, women and children in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Yemen and more. Who is the commander of all of this war and killing? Barack Obama… he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Unbelievably, according to this interview with Wesley Clark, the US has had plans drawn up since 2001 to attack numerous countries, including Libya (1:20 mark of the following video). According to Clark, it isn't for any reason other than “We've got a big military and we can take down governments”.
The US Military, by far, is the biggest enemy of freedom and peace on the planet. Yet despite the fact that the military industrial complex alone has nearly bankrupted the country many people in the US have been brainwashed into supporting it!
Anthems, Flags and Pledges of Allegiance
Stalin, with his famous quote about giving him your children for four years and the seed he plants will never be uprooted, probably could never have imagined in his wildest imagination having children in the state system for 12-16 years!
Between the media constantly playing nationalistic news and war movies, the schools indoctrinating children to chant the pledge of allegiance from a young age and grown adults made to sing their countries national anthem before every sporting event, the people have become brainwashed into thinking their own tax farm is a good thing.
In fact, people are so brainwashed, they will kill you if you do not adhere to these rituals. Just try staying seated during the singing of your national anthem at the next NFL game and see how long you last.
The following video is a funny look at just how ridiculous the Pledge of Allegiance is:
Expatriation Helps You See Outside of These Systems
Travel and even leaving your “home” country can help to quickly relieve the brainwashing.
It doesn't take too many things like having to rise and stand at attention before seeing any movie in Thailand and paying your respects to the King, to see how silly it is. Or, getting arrested for insulting the King!
As well, expatriation allows you to rebuke the brainwashed. As example, if you have expatriated to, say, Argentina, and you return to your “home” country of the US and get into a conversation about the military on Memorial Day, someone will always say, “You are alive and have your ‘freedom' thanks to these soldiers”. When you respond, “I don't even live here anymore. How is the US military protecting me in Argentina?” they will be left speechless. These arguments make no sense once you get your mind and body outside of the borders of the country in which you were born.
Countries are just an Artificial Human Construct
Countries don't exist. They only exist in the minds of men.
As Stefan Molyneux (who I recently enjoyed a video conversation with) once put it:
“The best way to look at countries on a map is like a chalk outline drawn by the police when someone dies… what you are seeing with the borders are just outlines of historical crimes… past warlords… empires… its nothing to be loyal to. Have loyalty to reason, to evidence, to ideals… not to lines drawn up mostly by criminals”
One of the biggest downsides with adhering to this nation state concept – a concept which Doug Casey says is thankfully on its way out – is that it makes wars possible. Nation states appeal to the caveman parts of us that still see the world as us versus them. It's the reason why professional sports are still so popular – because it appeals to our pack mentality, as Fred Reed so nicely said recently in an article about nationalism/patriotism.
So this Memorial Day
So, on this Memorial Day, don't just remember the fallen soldiers. Remember the hundreds of millions killed and the billions oppressed by nation states. And also remember that no large wars are possible without another construct of the nation state: central banks.
And the next time someone says to you, “Gotta Support the Troops, Right?”
Tell them that you are like Doug Stanhope. Tell them you support the troops on an individual by individual basis. Because, some troops are assholes!
