Generations of political leaders have eroded America’s prosperity. They've exported jobs, supported casino capitalism, funded wars. Now it's not just our tax dollars they’re after. It’s our children.
In my callow youth I took that “conscripted ride into the Valley of the Shadow of Death,” specifically into the quagmire in Vietnam, and know from experience that everything you say in this piece is true. As Nick Turse points out in his moving book “Kill Everything That Moves,” we exterminated over 3 million Vietnamese civilians and 2 million combatants for nothing except the profits generated by the American capitalist war machine. In the 50 years that have passed since that fiasco, America has only deepened its commitment to serving the aims of the MilitaryIndustrial/Congressional establishment that arranges these imperialist adventures abroad for the benefit of the weapons manufacturers and the investor class. As two-time Congressional Medal of Honor winner Major General Smedley Butler said after his long career in the Marine Corp, “War is a racket. It always has been…A few profit - and the many pay…A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.”
The masses: that’s us folks, you and me and our children. The propagandists for war will attempt to gaslight us in order to make us believe that going to war is patriotic. It can be, but that’s highly unlikely in the current corrupt political climate. The patriotic thing for us, the masses, to do now is overthrow the warmongers in power and elect people who serve the interests of peace and prosperity for all the nations of the world. That doesn’t mean abdicating the responsibility for maintaining a national defense. Not at all, but to continue to pursue war just for the sake of power, profit and control of other people in service to the delusional aims of empire, is venal and despicable and has nothing to do with defending one’s rights with honor. The true warrior, like General Butler, seeks the path of peace first and resorts to violence only when his overtures are rebuffed.
Wonderful piece. I've already shared it with my neighborhood. Americans love their children deeply and care for them, working hard and making sacrifices all their lives. Then when the our psychopathic billionaire masters put out the proper propaganda, these same parents sacrifice their precious children to war at the drop of a hat. How is such naivety possible in a rich country with almost total freedom of speech? ZombieLand.
The female zombies are fixated on their cell phones, social media and reality TV. The male zombies are fixated on sports and porn. They're distracted and it's by design. The oligarchs own the media and use it to keep the zombies enthralled, divided and stupid.
If he was running on the Green Party ticket he might of got my support but don't usually give money to out of staters. It's not up to me but Ohioans to decide.
A great deal more than Lindsey Graham. Here is a start, scroll down to the section looking back at Kosovo, our first NATO offensive war and the opening gambit of our present campaign against the Russian Federation:
The global war machine is run from America (800+ military bases around the world?), the global banking-money machine is run from Geneva/London, and the global religion machine is run from the Vatican. They have managed to 'hide in darkness' for a long time ... but it seems their time may soon be up - that's why they are cranking it up like crazy - and I mean crazy crazy.
Meanwhile us ordinary punters are challenged to keep a level head and heart through it all. "Love thy neighbour as part of thyself" was not so much a moral injunction, as a practical necessity in times of tyranny. Strong local communities are a key survival mechanism, NOT 'every man for himself' as some warped idea of 'rugged individualism'; the elite would love us to go down that path - but are scared if we-the-masses get together. As Jim Morrison said "They got the guns but we got the numbers ... C'mon".
Yes, Individualism was well defined as the national pathology years ago. That has morphed into flaming narcissism in which I have seen parents actually train their very young children without any consciousness of they are doing. Yet the idea of the rugged individual was always such a lie as people do not survive in isolation . More importantly, the ruling elite never work in isolation but plan collectively. as seen in all the committees that surround the president for decision-making. And internationally we can see the WEF and other oligarchical groups that meet regularly to plan the division and control of the world. Only the public is directed to isolate, carry their own burdens created by the oligarchy, and told not to share with others. The mass media promotes this lie with all those big box office smash hist that glorify individualism. But so very true: the people have numbers which is why the oligarchy works to hard to keep us divided.--it is petrified that the working people will organize themselves and then all will be over.
I'm not sure how NATO connects with what I wrote, but in general I support ending organisations that have become unaccountable in relation to the amount of power they exercise -- at the current time that would appear to include NATO. I have no expertise on geo-political matters; I was an engineer and refused to sell my soul to work in any capacity connected with military endeavours.
NATO is far beyond any good use 35 years since 1989 when the Wall fell. As for no accountability that’s the entire Western system top to bottom through and through. We should end it today.
I’m a veteran and didn’t sell my soul either, although they did abuse our trust. No matter.
We have learned something valuable at terrible cost, not to trust and soon not to obey our rancid rulers.
I’d not tempt fate throwing out the challenge of the unsold soul…
I'm sure there are other tests coming. My father & grandfather were in WW2 & 1 respectively and their accounts and 'shell shock' still disrupt my mind decades later. I feel for those who trustingly got caught up in such conflicts. And good luck to you too as the world unravels in this degenerative phase of our 'civilisation'.
Dennis, you are simply so right in your analysis; due to our homegrown arrogance and cultivated ignorance, we Americans are headed straight into a much wider war in the Ukraine, and quite possibly World War III.
Who would have thought that Biden and his advisors would take us to the very brink of war with Russia, and then push us over by allowing the Ukraine to use American bombs and missiles to attack Russia and kill Russians?! Most Americans can't even find the Ukraine on a map. Now we are being led to believe that going to war for the Ukraine is in our supreme national interests, and even worth risking our national existence?!
Some my say that I am exaggerating the current dangers, and that cooler heads will prevail; but I have no such confidence. Remember, World War l, in which millions died and three empires fell, began with a single shot.
So thank you Dennis for speaking truth to such raging power.....
Thank you Denis. Your analysis is spot on for halting legislation to draft American citizens ages 18 to 26. What groups are working on halting the legislation? and not electing anyone who supports this? There should be a long list of groups working this? Where is it?
Thanks for bringing more attention to this, but no one person can change Congress or the larger political system that wastes so much human life and squanders so much human potential. Political parties are not the solution either; instead, we need a union. The American Union of swing voters can collectively bargain for a better social contract, one that addresses MLK's triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism. Read more about the proposal to end poverty, end mass incarceration, and end the end at https://americanunion.substack.com/p/ten-points-for-progress-in-the-antiwar
The American Union wrote its own legislation, spelling out exactly how to end poverty, end mass incarceration, and end the endless wars. I'd love it if the Democrats got it done. I'd love it if the Republicans got it done. But they're too busy fighting each other to focus on the core issues, and allowing problems to fester is good for their fundraising. So we need a new way forward.
A union of swing voters (someone willing to vote for both Republicans or Democrats) can change the system because they change the calculation for candidates and parties. It makes it incumbents vs. challengers: Congress has to get things done before the election if they want the American Union's votes, otherwise they'll be kicked out of power. And it only takes 3.5% support to control the outcome of the House, Senate, and Oval Office.
The Democrat's platform was to protect abortion, too, but you notice they didn't actually do it for fifty years. That's why we need to change the incentive structure: Action first, votes second.
Speaking of False Flags, I just had a crazy (I hope) thought. I am interested in whether you, or anyone else here, thinks it is something the Zionists might be cooking up, it being that the motto of the Mossad is, "By Deception, Make War".
Netanyahu and his Apartheid defending supporters are evil but not stupid. They are fully aware of the FACT that Israel is now a pariah state. So, what would experts in False Flag operations, like the Mossad, who have carried out these murderous operations to deceive the public into seeing Israel as the "victim of the Airab baddies", DO to get most Americans to support Israel again?
I thought about that. It seems like mission impossible right now. Then I remembered Netanyahu is coming to the USA soon to spout more pro-Israel BS before Congress. Would not the old "lone nut" assassination attempt (making sure the bullet misses and hits a critic of IDF Genocide by mistake, of course) extract Israel from pariah status?
Yeah, it seems beyond the pale. However, considering the False Flag track record of the Mossad, I would not put it past them.
Do you think they might do that, or is the Biden Administration so OWNED by AIPAC that the Zionists do not care that most Americans, and the world, now see Israel as a Genocidal pariah state?
Here’s my guess. Neocon final solution playbook: A limited nuclear exchange. Lost: one American city to finish off the Constitution. Israel gone. No longer needed. The US has Ukraine now. 2 state solution? No. Destroy them both. Problem solved. Gear up for long hot war with Russia. Use of limited Nukes on both sides to keep Americans scared. Food supply ruined. Bill gates comes up with food vaccines to keep people healthy until their hearts stop. Or, we get our collective shit together and put down the fucking neocons infesting the Democratic Party and restore it to being a brick wall against right wing excess.
I love you Congressman Kucinich, for all the ethical and intelligence in standing for Human Rights and against the corrupt government of the USA from the Supreme Court to Congress, the spy agencies and the Military Industrial Congressional, Corporate Bankers and Investment Complex, since you began in city and state government decades ago. I'd wish you could be the President, on the other hand you will not be safe and may go the way of JFK. We need you to keep working for our benefit
Bless you for continuing to face the behemoth. in spite of the hard work and attention you continue to produce. May you be safe and successful in your project.
In my callow youth I took that “conscripted ride into the Valley of the Shadow of Death,” specifically into the quagmire in Vietnam, and know from experience that everything you say in this piece is true. As Nick Turse points out in his moving book “Kill Everything That Moves,” we exterminated over 3 million Vietnamese civilians and 2 million combatants for nothing except the profits generated by the American capitalist war machine. In the 50 years that have passed since that fiasco, America has only deepened its commitment to serving the aims of the MilitaryIndustrial/Congressional establishment that arranges these imperialist adventures abroad for the benefit of the weapons manufacturers and the investor class. As two-time Congressional Medal of Honor winner Major General Smedley Butler said after his long career in the Marine Corp, “War is a racket. It always has been…A few profit - and the many pay…A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.”
The masses: that’s us folks, you and me and our children. The propagandists for war will attempt to gaslight us in order to make us believe that going to war is patriotic. It can be, but that’s highly unlikely in the current corrupt political climate. The patriotic thing for us, the masses, to do now is overthrow the warmongers in power and elect people who serve the interests of peace and prosperity for all the nations of the world. That doesn’t mean abdicating the responsibility for maintaining a national defense. Not at all, but to continue to pursue war just for the sake of power, profit and control of other people in service to the delusional aims of empire, is venal and despicable and has nothing to do with defending one’s rights with honor. The true warrior, like General Butler, seeks the path of peace first and resorts to violence only when his overtures are rebuffed.
Thanks for your service.
It’s too late.
I don’t think they want conscription for Ukraine BTW.
Ukraine is a rehearsal for here…
It’s what they do.
Gentle reminder, we've never had rights, we've only been given concessions. Concessions can and will be taken away at any time.
Wonderful piece. I've already shared it with my neighborhood. Americans love their children deeply and care for them, working hard and making sacrifices all their lives. Then when the our psychopathic billionaire masters put out the proper propaganda, these same parents sacrifice their precious children to war at the drop of a hat. How is such naivety possible in a rich country with almost total freedom of speech? ZombieLand.
The female zombies are fixated on their cell phones, social media and reality TV. The male zombies are fixated on sports and porn. They're distracted and it's by design. The oligarchs own the media and use it to keep the zombies enthralled, divided and stupid.
Get into office and unfu*& what's all fu#%ed up.
Help him achieve the goal. Donate to his campaign.
De Vries, I'm half Frisian myself. Thanks for the upvoted. By the way, I just donated another $25!
If he was running on the Green Party ticket he might of got my support but don't usually give money to out of staters. It's not up to me but Ohioans to decide.
He was in office 1997-2013
@the long warred
And they had to gerrymander his district to get him out of office, he kept being inconveniently (for the powers that are) reelected.
(Quote)
‘You’re stopping some people from making a lot of money.’ ”
https://jacobin.com/2022/06/when-the-mob-tried-to-whack-dennis-kucinich
Agreed. What did Dennis K. do to stop the march of NATO East towards Russia 1997-2013?
@the long warred
A great deal more than Lindsey Graham. Here is a start, scroll down to the section looking back at Kosovo, our first NATO offensive war and the opening gambit of our present campaign against the Russian Federation:
https://academicjournals.org/journal/AJPSIR/article-full-text/6B5F06862907
Let's get rid of the Selective Service period! Never mind their "light touch." I don't want my grandson to be a soldier and neither does he. Ever!
If they come for your kid, it's time to shoot em! That's the time for the revolution to go 🔥HOT🔥! We must unite or perish as slaves.
If they come for your kid, it's time to shoot em! That's the time for the revolution to go 🔥HOT🔥! We must unite or perish as slaves.
Lol. Do you vote?
All voters should serve.
Or be denied full citizenship.
That’s democracy from Athens until the 19th amendment, which is fortunately being corrected…
The global war machine is run from America (800+ military bases around the world?), the global banking-money machine is run from Geneva/London, and the global religion machine is run from the Vatican. They have managed to 'hide in darkness' for a long time ... but it seems their time may soon be up - that's why they are cranking it up like crazy - and I mean crazy crazy.
Meanwhile us ordinary punters are challenged to keep a level head and heart through it all. "Love thy neighbour as part of thyself" was not so much a moral injunction, as a practical necessity in times of tyranny. Strong local communities are a key survival mechanism, NOT 'every man for himself' as some warped idea of 'rugged individualism'; the elite would love us to go down that path - but are scared if we-the-masses get together. As Jim Morrison said "They got the guns but we got the numbers ... C'mon".
Well articulated. .
Yes, Individualism was well defined as the national pathology years ago. That has morphed into flaming narcissism in which I have seen parents actually train their very young children without any consciousness of they are doing. Yet the idea of the rugged individual was always such a lie as people do not survive in isolation . More importantly, the ruling elite never work in isolation but plan collectively. as seen in all the committees that surround the president for decision-making. And internationally we can see the WEF and other oligarchical groups that meet regularly to plan the division and control of the world. Only the public is directed to isolate, carry their own burdens created by the oligarchy, and told not to share with others. The mass media promotes this lie with all those big box office smash hist that glorify individualism. But so very true: the people have numbers which is why the oligarchy works to hard to keep us divided.--it is petrified that the working people will organize themselves and then all will be over.
True, that's why divide-and-rule has such a long track record of success for those who have some psychotic need to lord it over the rest of us.
Do you support ending NATO and our other treaties with dozens of nations? 69 last time I checked.
I do, and I’m a veteran.
800 bases and 32 million conscripts… might not be enough.
Tear up the Treaties or weep tears.
Until then stop bitching about the price tag, just because bourgeois life might get real.
😂
I'm not sure what you are saying. Are you saying you believe war can stop war?
JB; Do you support ending NATO and our other treaties with dozens of nations?
I'm not sure how NATO connects with what I wrote, but in general I support ending organisations that have become unaccountable in relation to the amount of power they exercise -- at the current time that would appear to include NATO. I have no expertise on geo-political matters; I was an engineer and refused to sell my soul to work in any capacity connected with military endeavours.
The connection if against wars, then end treaties that oblige wars.
NATO is far beyond any good use 35 years since 1989 when the Wall fell. As for no accountability that’s the entire Western system top to bottom through and through. We should end it today.
I’m a veteran and didn’t sell my soul either, although they did abuse our trust. No matter.
We have learned something valuable at terrible cost, not to trust and soon not to obey our rancid rulers.
I’d not tempt fate throwing out the challenge of the unsold soul…
I suppose it’s passing a test…
… there’s other tests coming.
Good luck.
I'm sure there are other tests coming. My father & grandfather were in WW2 & 1 respectively and their accounts and 'shell shock' still disrupt my mind decades later. I feel for those who trustingly got caught up in such conflicts. And good luck to you too as the world unravels in this degenerative phase of our 'civilisation'.
Never stop bitching about the price tag! End NATO! Get out of other countries. Stop sending US taxpayers' money to others everywhere.
Abolish Treaties.
Then and only then cut the American military.
A clear concise overview of forever wars! Thanks! Hope everyone reads this!
And voting isn't going to change a thing. There will be no change for the good from within the system. None. Your votes mean nothing.
Thank you, Mr. Kucinich, for spelling out this insanity. My admiration for your principles has never
flagged since I first heard your lone voice for peace in the House.
Mutiny NOW! 🇺🇸
You realize that’s a one way trip to take it all and it can’t be given back? Certainly not to voters.
Voters gave us this…
Dennis, you are simply so right in your analysis; due to our homegrown arrogance and cultivated ignorance, we Americans are headed straight into a much wider war in the Ukraine, and quite possibly World War III.
Who would have thought that Biden and his advisors would take us to the very brink of war with Russia, and then push us over by allowing the Ukraine to use American bombs and missiles to attack Russia and kill Russians?! Most Americans can't even find the Ukraine on a map. Now we are being led to believe that going to war for the Ukraine is in our supreme national interests, and even worth risking our national existence?!
Some my say that I am exaggerating the current dangers, and that cooler heads will prevail; but I have no such confidence. Remember, World War l, in which millions died and three empires fell, began with a single shot.
So thank you Dennis for speaking truth to such raging power.....
Thank you Denis. Your analysis is spot on for halting legislation to draft American citizens ages 18 to 26. What groups are working on halting the legislation? and not electing anyone who supports this? There should be a long list of groups working this? Where is it?
JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE!!!?
YES!!! That was such good news. I couldn't believe it when I saw it.
He's flying home right now!
Thanks for bringing more attention to this, but no one person can change Congress or the larger political system that wastes so much human life and squanders so much human potential. Political parties are not the solution either; instead, we need a union. The American Union of swing voters can collectively bargain for a better social contract, one that addresses MLK's triple evils of poverty, racism, and militarism. Read more about the proposal to end poverty, end mass incarceration, and end the end at https://americanunion.substack.com/p/ten-points-for-progress-in-the-antiwar
So you’re saying vote Democratic? That’s their platform, I thought… ?
The American Union wrote its own legislation, spelling out exactly how to end poverty, end mass incarceration, and end the endless wars. I'd love it if the Democrats got it done. I'd love it if the Republicans got it done. But they're too busy fighting each other to focus on the core issues, and allowing problems to fester is good for their fundraising. So we need a new way forward.
A union of swing voters (someone willing to vote for both Republicans or Democrats) can change the system because they change the calculation for candidates and parties. It makes it incumbents vs. challengers: Congress has to get things done before the election if they want the American Union's votes, otherwise they'll be kicked out of power. And it only takes 3.5% support to control the outcome of the House, Senate, and Oval Office.
We aren’t voting our way out of this…
And Hell we shouldn’t either…
Voting had its chance and sold out.
Bye 👋🏻 voting
The Democrat's platform was to protect abortion, too, but you notice they didn't actually do it for fifty years. That's why we need to change the incentive structure: Action first, votes second.
I’m not Democratic… Sir.
And mostly against abortion.
I wouldn’t say pro-life.
We’re not voting our way out of this…
FALSE FLAG ALERT
Speaking of False Flags, I just had a crazy (I hope) thought. I am interested in whether you, or anyone else here, thinks it is something the Zionists might be cooking up, it being that the motto of the Mossad is, "By Deception, Make War".
Netanyahu and his Apartheid defending supporters are evil but not stupid. They are fully aware of the FACT that Israel is now a pariah state. So, what would experts in False Flag operations, like the Mossad, who have carried out these murderous operations to deceive the public into seeing Israel as the "victim of the Airab baddies", DO to get most Americans to support Israel again?
I thought about that. It seems like mission impossible right now. Then I remembered Netanyahu is coming to the USA soon to spout more pro-Israel BS before Congress. Would not the old "lone nut" assassination attempt (making sure the bullet misses and hits a critic of IDF Genocide by mistake, of course) extract Israel from pariah status?
Yeah, it seems beyond the pale. However, considering the False Flag track record of the Mossad, I would not put it past them.
Do you think they might do that, or is the Biden Administration so OWNED by AIPAC that the Zionists do not care that most Americans, and the world, now see Israel as a Genocidal pariah state?
soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-180224131618.png
soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120124130536.jpeg
Here’s my guess. Neocon final solution playbook: A limited nuclear exchange. Lost: one American city to finish off the Constitution. Israel gone. No longer needed. The US has Ukraine now. 2 state solution? No. Destroy them both. Problem solved. Gear up for long hot war with Russia. Use of limited Nukes on both sides to keep Americans scared. Food supply ruined. Bill gates comes up with food vaccines to keep people healthy until their hearts stop. Or, we get our collective shit together and put down the fucking neocons infesting the Democratic Party and restore it to being a brick wall against right wing excess.
When have we ever needed Israel?! a cruel racist/fascist state, which has never done anything for us that didn't benefit it far more. See USS Liberty!
Without conscription, how else is the Bloated Yam going to:
Deploy troops in every street in America to replace state, country, and municipal governments
Guard the detention centers for untermenschen and enemies of the state
Invade Ukraine, Taiwan, and South Korea at the behest of Putin, China, and North Korea?
Yeah, it’s here.
Never heard Bloated Yam before..
My wife made it up.
It’s brilliant.
Is that Trump or the government?
The reference is to the 45th President of the United States.
I love you Congressman Kucinich, for all the ethical and intelligence in standing for Human Rights and against the corrupt government of the USA from the Supreme Court to Congress, the spy agencies and the Military Industrial Congressional, Corporate Bankers and Investment Complex, since you began in city and state government decades ago. I'd wish you could be the President, on the other hand you will not be safe and may go the way of JFK. We need you to keep working for our benefit
Bless you for continuing to face the behemoth. in spite of the hard work and attention you continue to produce. May you be safe and successful in your project.