Undeclared Wars

September 4, 2013 — declaration, Syria, war

If war is declared responsible parties will do the utmost to declare a truce. Since Viet Nam the United Stares has felt the need to wage war without any declaration. Since I was a teen I have worked to influence my peers and the government to stop violent political action, no matter what it is called. I have traveled and watched the reputation of Americans enter a downward spiral that can make it uncomfortable for us to be in other countries. Most people from outside our borders do understand that the people here do not have the same democratic power that we did it he distant past. They may not know the details, but they have heard about the corporate lobbyist and commercial contributions to our lawmakers that have turned democracy into a joke.

I vote and pay taxes, lots of taxes. I have marched on Washington for peace, where I paid for the tear gas that was hurled at me. My position has not changed:
War is not healthy for children and other living things. I don’t know how healthy we might be if we had not engaged in all these undeclared wars, but I feel pretty sure we would be wealthier. We are not the most powerful country in the world if we resort to force and violence without the dignity to declare the reasons, and the goals of the use of armed violence. We are viewed as mortally bankrupt by many around the world. How can we manage to control our resources for the benefit of our citizens? How can we stop the military from invading or bombing other countries without a declared war? They have established a precident, but this is a very good time to take a U turn. If we sacrifice young lives and national security, we need to announce to the world and to the ones who are about to be killed in the conflict what our agenda is. I do not believe our agenda is coherent; and declaration of war would at least reveal what the terms are.