perpetual war

George Orwell said the purpose of the perpetual war is to blow up a bunch of really expensive stuff. Instead of spending money on the health, welfare, and education of its people, the totalitarian state blows the money into the stratosphere, thinking that if they didn't, the people would become too comfortable, and hence, too intelligent. And that would be the end of the totalitarian government.

There's not much danger of that happening here, because Pentagon spending is running right around $700 billion annually, which is as much or more than the rest of the world combined.

The US also has over 300,000 military personnel stationed abroad, and that also is more than the rest of the world combined, plus 90,000 sailors at sea.

In Orwell's world, maintenance and expansion of the empire of over 750 bases in 40 or so different countries is supposed to provide the fireworks and TV show which will distract us from the predatory violence of domestic politics, but in the USA today that show is wearing thin. The heroics intended to ignite patriotic fervor in ordinary citizens are frequently as phony as they are ineffective in arousing the masses. Remember Jessica Lynch?

A lot of people these days need food stamps, but instead they're getting cops in Star Wars suits. The war was always primarily against us.

Illustration: WWII German poster depicting the USA as a robotic monster. This remarkable picture should be shown very large to be fully appreciated, as it is here. You'll need to scroll about halfway down the page.