The War On ––– Anything

Most Americans would likely agree with the statement that we are a peace-loving people, not a militaristic one.  It is also likely that people of many other nations would disagree with our self-assessment based upon their own experience with us.  Often those two differing views come from two different perceptions and two different interpretations of the same event as seen through two different sets of eyes perceiving two very different motivations for our actions.

It is certainly true that Americans seem continually attracted to being in a state of war, whether a physical or rhetorical one.  In our post-World War II era, we have sent our troops into harm’s way under every president except Eisenhower, Kennedy and Carter, so our willingness to use military power in a “hot” conflict is a bipartisan one.  We have used those troops all over the world, so our willingness is also generally unlimited by geography.  When hot wars were insufficient, a 40-year “cold war” kept us in a quasi-state of perpetual conflict, leading to building missile armaments sufficient to wipe out the planet in mere minutes.  It kept us in a constant state of fear that emphasized war as the primary instrument to overcome those who caused our fear.

Politically and socially, we have needed a similar state of warfare to frame our internal discussions and mass movements.  We declare a war on various social ills in order to give it sufficient gravitas and priority so as to marshal commitment, resources and popular enthusiasm to that cause.  We had Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty.”  Judging by all of the poverty still around us, one might conclude this to have been a lost war.  Yet judging by the changes in circumstances brought to many of the disadvantaged over the years, perhaps some individual battlefront victories were won.

We had Ronald Reagan’s “War on Drugs.”  Clearly not enough people “just said no” to drugs as his wife Nancy asked of us.  That war has accomplished seemingly little over the long haul given the billions of dollars invested.

Fox News generated an accusation of a “War on Christmas” a few years ago.  It came about because people felt they had a right (if not an obligation) to wish everyone in sight a “Merry Christmas” whether they were Christians (or Christmas observers) or not.  Somehow, wishing everyone a “Happy Holiday” in keeping with each person’s individual faith was seen as a bad thing to do.  Yet once upon a time we just called that common courtesy.

Similarly comes the “War on Religion.”  This war is generally espoused by the religious right and Catholic church leaders.  It reflects supposed limits being placed upon their ability to say and do anything anywhere they wish in the name of exercising their religious rights; or to compete and service the public (in schools, hospitals, publishing, etc.) but with special non-competition rules or exemptions applied to them.  It is a religious exercise increasingly occurring in the public arena and the legislative halls.  Yet in the perverse inverse logic that today passes for public and political discussion in America, the very people who claim to be the victims of this war are in fact the very aggressors themselves.  It is their personal and legal attacks against the beliefs of other faiths, and their attempted religious domination over other citizens, that fuels this conflict.  These rightist elements have met their enemy, and the face of that enemy is in their mirrors.

Ditto the “War on Marriage” and the “War on Family.”  I know of no gay or lesbian marriage that has thereby prevented a man and a woman from having a traditional marriage ceremony.  I know of no same-sex marriage that has thereby forced a male/female marriage to be dissolved.  I know of no woman choosing an abortion that has thereby prevented another woman from having her own baby.  I know of no prayers not said in our public schools that were thereby prevented from being said in the home at the dinner table or in the halls of our churches, synagogues or mosques.  What others may say or do does not stop nor define who I am.

Most recently, we now have “The War on Women.”  Women are being attacked by: trivializing their legitimate concerns; minimizing the meaningfulness of the job of motherhood; continuing to dispute the reality of unequal pay for equal work; and equating birth control to “slut-hood.”  These comments – echoing debates thought long settled way back in the 1970s – come from all ends of the political spectrum.  It is hard to tell aggressor from victim because everyone accuses everyone else of starting this war.  Soccer moms yield to momma grizzlies who yield to …?  In the end, all women get marginalized and patronized by political opportunism.

War is not a pretty thing, but it is a very serious thing.  After thousands of years of civilization’s advances, we should be rid of it by now.  But we are not.  It remains a fact and necessity of life, though best used very sparingly.  We have fought some wars with a very worthwhile purpose, and others not so worthwhile.  We have had many American men and women in uniform who have performed incredible acts of wisdom, courage, inventiveness, and sacrifice.  People whose names we know, and many more we have never known, identified in public anonymity only to family and close friends.  They are people who have witnessed unspeakable horrors and cruelty beyond what humans should be subject to.  This is what “war” truly means.

When we play at war, or convert a cause or ambition or crusade into a “War on …” in order to dream up support and energy, we thereby trivialize and disrespect those who fight our real wars.  Such casual use of “war” as a political slogan also makes us far too casual about committing young men and women into attacks from real bullets rather than just listening to words hurled back and forth.

There are serious needs to address in this country, and we are certainly highly divided about what these needs are and how to resolve them.  But as bitterly as we may continue to yell at each other, we are not in a real war with each other.  At least not yet, even though it too often feels like we could descend into that state with each senseless shooting that occurs.  But let us not hurry such a descent any more or sooner than necessary.  If we keep declaring war too easily on every thing we disagree with, we may wake up some morning to find that we have gotten exactly what we asked for.  And our then-confused military will not know who to defend.