Our military is the largest in the world. Of all military spending in the world, the U.S. spends about 46% of the total. The UK, France, Japan and China are next - each with about 4.5% (Source) Now, just think about that for a minute. When you have a military that is so huge, every problem in the world seems as if it probably can be solved with military might.
We have an aggression problem here in the U.S. Even as I watch the political conventions, I see delegates chanting (both parties) "U.S.A, U.S.A..." as if war was some sort of athletic competition. It is rather sick, don't ya think?
And a big part of the problem is that it carries over into our own everyday lives. We look at "power" and "command" as a way to solve all sorts of problems. Got a drug addiction problem? We'll capture you and lock you up. Got some protesters in Minneapolis? Arrest them and lock them up. Got some homosexuals getting married? Capture them and drag them down the road behind your car until they are dead.
We are a physical and brutal society. And it's getting worse because this "brute force" solution is spreading to the point that it is violating our rights. We need to seriously reevaluate what is going on in this country and get our rights back. BUT - we're still heading in the wrong direction.
Check out the following from a web site called Reason...
The Richland County, South Carolina Sheriff's Department (that's them above) just obtained an armored personnel carrier, complete with a belt-fed, .50-cal turreted machine gun. Sheriff Leon Lott has charmingly named the vehicle "The Peacemaker," and insists that using a caliber of ammunition that even the U.S. military is reluctant to use against human targets (it's generally reserved for use against armored vehicles) will "save lives."Can we call this overkill, yet? Is there any weapon people like Sheriff Lott would consider inappropriate for use against American citizens?
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