{"id":54537,"date":"2025-08-14T09:42:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=54537"},"modified":"2025-08-14T09:44:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T17:44:17","slug":"something-is-rotten-in-the-states-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/14\/something-is-rotten-in-the-states-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Something Is Rotten in the States of America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from Bracing Views<\/a> with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n

Something is Rotten in the States of America.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s war budget now exceeds $1 trillion a year \u2013 an almost unimaginable sum.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon plans to spend $1.7 trillion \u201cmodernizing\u201d a nuclear triad that should instead be downsized. A proposed \u201cGolden Dome\u201d missile defense system may cost $500 billion while making nuclear war more likely. And a \u201cnew\u201d Cold War with China and Russia is already underway, with threat inflation as one of its defining features.<\/p>\n

With military spending so high \u2013 and the military so valorized \u2013 Washington offers it as the solution to nearly everything: crime in D.C., eliminating drug cartels south of the border, containing China and Russia, \u201cwinning\u201d in Somalia, preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons \u2013 the list is endless. Supporting and defending the Constitution, however, is rarely mentioned.<\/p>\n

War has become America\u2019s new normal. \u201cPeace\u201d is now a word that dare not speak its name. According to the Pentagon, the only peace worth pursuing is \u201cpeace through [military] strength.\u201d A warrior ethos is marketed as if it were synonymous with democratic virtue.<\/p>\n

I once called for a 10% reduction in Pentagon spending. That\u2019s no longer enough. We need a 50% cut \u2013 we need a military dedicated to genuine national defense, not imperial dominance. Surely we can protect America for $500 billion a year rather than the $1 trillion we\u2019re spending now.<\/p>\n

Changing the narrative is crucial. Why do we need 750+ bases overseas? Why expand our nuclear arsenal when we already have 5,000 warheads? We don\u2019t need these things \u2013 they are the hallmarks of wasteful militarism. They escalate tensions, endanger us, and drain the nation\u2019s wealth.<\/p>\n

And why do we have 17 or 18 intelligence agencies? Despite all that intelligence, we still lost in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Where is the accountability? Why are no generals relieved of command for such failures? In fact, they\u2019re more likely to fail upwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll governments lie,\u201d as I.F. Stone warned. Combine that with the truth that war\u2019s first casualty is truth itself, and you begin to see the rot in America today. Perpetual war fuels deception and government overreach. Almost anything can be justified when the cry is, \u201cWe\u2019re at war!\u201d \u2013 even when the reasons for going to war are false.<\/p>\n

Consider the Gulf of Tonkin incident \u2013 revealed later as phony \u2013 and the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. Consider Iraq\u2019s mythical WMDs. Consider the lies revealed in the Afghan War Papers. Consider the weasel words of generals like David Petraeus, forever hedging \u201cgains\u201d as \u201cfragile\u201d and \u201creversible.\u201d Consider the U.S. military\u2019s record since World War II \u2013 generally ineffective because there\u2019s been little accountability for failure. (And yes, civilian leaders share the blame.)<\/p>\n

The military-industrial complex grows ever more powerful, sidelining the American people while democracy withers.<\/p>\n

Something is rotten in the States of America.<\/p>\n