American Militarism, Part 2: On Celebrating Militaristic Nationalism

Around this time last year, I was corresponding regularly with a
globe-trotting Viennese Jewish linguist who was visiting Oklahoma City. She
wrote from there about being deeply unnerved by the live and televised celebrationsthat she’d seen during our "Fourth Of July" holiday, because they vividly reminded her of 1930s Germany, both as described by her older relatives and as captured by Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda films.

This year, her astute observations came to mind as I watched the televised
Independence Day reveries in New York City, Boston, and DC. Despite their
beautiful pageantry, I could not help but note the presence of three virulent traits that she’d observed: narcissistic solipsism; grandiose nationalism; and strident militarism. [1]

As for our narcissistic solipsism, the USA’s national consciousness has
become so insular that the rest of this wonderfully-diverse world appears to be a gossamer haze which might - or might not - really exist, but is irrelevant in either case. Today, this trait is rooted in Manifest Destiny’s superiority complex: "We don’t need to understand them; they need to understand us. After all, we ARE the world’s sole superpower!" Historically, this trait was rooted in Manifest Destiny’s imperialist racism: "We must march from ocean to ocean. ...
It is the destiny of the white race." [2]

As for our grandiose nationalism, I certainly don’t think it’s wrong to feel
love for one’s nation! However, the regressive right’s "form-over-substance"
celebrations pietistically venerate abstract national symbols like the flag
while they eviscerate substantive national realities like the Bill of Rights. And
they triumphalistically elevate "The Troops" and "The Homeland" to
pseudo-messianic status while they separate us from the supranational love of humankind. Furthermore, the right misunderstands the holiday, formerly known as "Independence Day" but currently known as "The Fourth Of July," as their license to indulge in arrogant, ahistorical, over-the-top displays of our "national sup eriority" that feature flags, food, and fireworks: "It’s all about us! We’re number one! We are the champions of the world!"

Contrastingly, the progressive left understands that inviolable substantive
rights trump mere symbols. And that Independence Day should be celebrated in
its proper historical context. It’s all about honoring the ideas of the American revolutionaries - especially the founders who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Our communities publicly honor them because their brilliant ideas about self-governance in a democratic republic eclipsed the royalist pretensions of the British Crown, and their sacred convictions about liberty and equality withstood the intimidating might of the British Empire.

Progressives realize that Independence Day wasn’t meant to be the
megalomaniacally self-congratulatory pridefest that it has become. It was meant to be both a gracious way of acknowledging our priceless heritage - for which we never could thank the founding generation enough - and a humble way of saying "We’ve come far since 1776, but we got here by riding on the shoulders of giants!"

As for our execrable swoon into strident militarism, many people incorrectly
think "militarism" connotes a blanket condemnation of the military. It does
not. What does "militarism" mean? Here’s one scholar’s definition: "The term
’militarism’ describes a society in which war, or preparation for war, dominates politics and foreign policy. Soldiers and military-minded civilians become a governing elite dedicated to expanding the military establishment and inculcating martial values." [3]

If militarism can be likened to a disease, are there any recognizable
cultural symptoms? Yes. Economic addiction to war, a bloated military-industrial complex, rampant corporate war-profiteering, a timid propaganda-parrotting media, near-worship of the troops, and widespread public corruption are some of the cultural symptoms of a nation that is suffering from the disease of militarism.
These symptoms should sound familiar, as in "An America Celebration at Ford’s Theater: A Salute to the Troops!" [4] Or "New Spartanland’s Military-Minded Civilian Leaders Support Our Glorious Troops on the Fourth of July to Inculcate Martial Values."

Unlike today’s leaders, the American founders learned about the perils of
militarism through sore experience. As colonial subjects of the militaristic
British Empire, they saw firsthand that a large standing army in the midst of a
democratic people poses a grave danger to liberty, and that unnecessary
entanglements in foreign military adventures can bankrupt a nation financially and morally. [5] Hence, they sought constitutional measures to prevent both situations. Nevertheless, both situations are upon us today, largely because we’re far less wise. If our leaders had learned history’s lessons, they’d know that militarism is a toxic catalyst that can trigger a national descent into fascism. [6]

After carefully considering my Viennese friend’s apt historical analogy
between 1930s Germany and the Bushite USA, I too am wondering whether atavistic realities lie beneath the symbolic surface of our nation’s prideful pomp and fireworks pageantry. In days to come, will we pull ourselves back from the militaristic brink upon which we’ve been teetering, or tumble headlong into homegrown fascism?

I hope a sea-change is occurring. That the day might be dawning when the
American people finally wake up, and let their government know that they’ve had enough. We can tell them with our votes that we’ve finally had ENOUGH of their bloodthirsty militarism; ENOUGH of their depraved global empire of more than 6,725 military bases; ENOUGH of their extravagant expenditures on the endless overkill of superfluous hi-tech weaponry; and ENOUGH of their obscenely-bloated defense budgets! [7]

It’s up to us. It’s our watch now. We’re freedom’s flamekeepers. Dark storm
clouds are approaching swiftly on the horizon. If we don’t tell our leaders
"Enough!", a severe challenge could emerge soon. In 1945, our parents and grand parents proved equal to their challenge by defeating fascism before it could snuff out freedom’s flame abroad. Like them, we must prove equal to our challenge by defeating neofascism before it achieves a stranglehold at home. [8]

"American Militarism, Part 1: Is The USA Addicted To War?
First Consider The Evidence, Then Draw Your Own Conclusions":
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Endnotes

[1] Also see James Carroll’s wise 7-5-05 CD/BG essay, "The Day After The
Fireworks": http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0705-24.htm

[2] Representative Giles of Maryland, quoted in Joel Andreas’ excellent
illustrated book, Addicted to War - Why the U.S. Can’t Kick Militarism (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2004), p. 3 [You can order the updated hardcopy version for $10.00 at this e-mail address: akpress@akpress.org . Or you can read the 2002 online version after you’ve signed up for free at this website:
http://www.american-buddha.com/addict.war.toc.htm .]

[3] Arthur A. Ekirch Jr., "Militarism And Antimilitarism," The Oxford
Companion To American Military History (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999),
p. 438. [American militarism has deeply-embedded cultural and economic
components that his definition doesn’t reach. The subject is far more complex. For example: (a) the 2004 presidential race was focused for months - absurdly and to our detriment - on the candidates’ so-called "qualifications to be commander-in-chief," which ultimately reduced down to their brief tenures as lower-ranking military officers 35 years ago (this is tantamount to arguing that "I coached a Little League baseball team in 1970, so I’m qualified to coach the New York Yankees today."); and (b) the Bushites chose to ignore international law’s outlawry of aggressive war so they could wage "perpetual war" against Islamic civilization, and thus conquer and occupy its petro-states before the global energy market reaches "peak oil" and fossil-fuel prices skyrocket.]

[4] Mr. Bush and his national-security team attended this "salute to the
troops," which ABC televised on July 4, 2005. These essays and books insightfully address American militarism, which is to say our vehemently-denied, and yet very real addiction to war:

A. Greg Guma’s 6-24-05 CD essay, "Addicted to War: An Insider Examines
The Seductive Myths Of Militarism" [Summarizes the excellent arguments against militarism that BU Professor Andrew Bacevich include in his book, The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced By War (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). Bacevich is a former conservative military officer who graduated from West Point, served in the Vietnam War, then studied as a Bush Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.]:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0624-26.htm

B. UCSD Professor Emeritus Chalmers Johnson’s outstanding book, The
Sorrows Of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004) [A brilliant and sobering assessment of the
Congressional-military-industrial complex, which has produced a global empire of bases, a war-dependent economy, and an ever-deepening militarism that threatens to destroy our democratic republic.]

[5] Medea Benjamin’s 7-3-05 CD essay, "Creating Independence In The Era Of
Empire":
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0703-25.htm

[6] Evan Augustine Peterson III’s 2-6-05 NFPNZ essay, "Of Militarism,
Fascism, War And National Consciousness" [Explains from a social sciences perspective the genesis of American militarism, the possibility that we are currently devolving into fascism, and the alternative possibility of evolving into an authentically nonviolent society.]:
http://nuclearfree.lynx.co.nz/of.htm

[7] Four fact-based articles expose the shocking degree to which the USA has
overinvested in its military. We ought to be asking ourselves "How much is
enough?"

A. Tom Englehart’s 6-2-05 CD/TD essay, "Bases, Bases Everywhere: It’s A
Pentagon World And Welcome To It" [Provides eye-opening details about the
Pentagon’s ever-expanding empire of over 6,000 domestic bases, and 725 overseas bases; demonstrates that the Bush administration has planned, from the very beginning, to expand this vast empire of US military bases, and thereby achieve control of oil-rich nations in the Middle East and Central Asia.]:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0602-28.htm

B. Peter Starck’s 6-7-05 CD/Reuters article, "World Military Spending
Topped $1 Trillion In 2004" [In its annual study of world military
expenditures, SIPRI concluded that the USA accounted for nearly half - 47% - of the world’s military expenditures in 2004. By comparison: (1) the next four biggest military spenders COMBINED - Britain, France, Japan and China - account for only 17% of the world’s military expenditures; and (2) the USA’s $455 billion military expenditure in 2004 was LARGER than the COMBINED amount the 32 next-most-powerful nations spent on their militaries. SIPRI is globally respected for the reliability of its data, but the USA’s 2004 military spending was higher than SIPRI stated. SIPRI might not have taken into account the multibillions in supplemental appropriations that Congress allocated for Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.]:
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0607-03.htm

C. Jurgen Brauer and Nicholas Anglewitz’s 6-12-05 TP essay, "Two Thirds
On Defense" [The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) wanted to accurately
account for total government spending on defense and nondefense, so they
recalculated the 2004 federal budget outlay. BEA concluded that: (1) the government has been massively UNDERSTATING ITS DEFENSE SPENDING HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS; and (2) for every dollar that the US government spends, 68 cents goes to military defense, and only 32 cents goes to civilian nondefense. In short, THE US GOVERNMENT ACTUALLY SPENDS MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS OF EVERY DOLLAR ON MILITARY DEFENSE!]:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050610/twothirds_on_defense.php

D. CitizenWorks.org’s webpage, "Stop Corporate War Profiteers!" [Contains
eye-opening information, such as: (a) fact sheets about the gold-plated,
no-bid contracts that the Pentagon awards to certain favored defense contractors
like Bechtel and Halliburton; and (b) links to useful websites that reveal
heretofore well-kept secrets, like the huge dollar amounts that corporate
war-profiteers "donate" to politicians and their parties.]:
http://www.citizenworks.org/corp/warcontracts/warcontracts.php

[8] Thom Hartmann’s must-read 7-5-05 CD essay, "Supreme Court - Media Ignore
Possible ’Fascist’ Play" [Compellingly explains why the stakes will be
unusually high in determining who will replace retired SCOTUS Justice Sandra Day O’Connor - especially if Mr. Bush’s nominee is USAG Alberto Gonzales, or someone who resembles him ideologically.]:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0705-31.htm

About The Author:
Evan Augustine Peterson III, J.D., is the Executive Director of the American
Center for International Law ("ACIL"). He writes on international law, human
rights, foreign policy, government, politics, culture, and ethics. His articles have been published online by - among others - AxisOfLogic, BuffaloReport, CentreForGlobalResearch, CoalitionForFreeThoughtInMedia, ColdType, Democrats.com, Eklektikos, EnvirosAgainstWar, ForeignPressFoundation, InformationClearingHouse, IrishAntiwar, NewtopiaMagazine, NuclearFreePeacemakerNewZealand, OnlineJournal, OpEdNews, OrbStandard, PopulistAmerica, Scoop, TheModernTribune, ThePeoplesVoice, TheRepublic, TodaysAlternativeNews, UrukNet, VHeadline, and ZNet.

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