In the US, Violence Has Always Been the Answer
ROBERT C. KOEHLER in Common Dreams
As with all such shootings, this goes beyond “motive”
into a collective nethersphere of uncertainty. For God’s sake, what is life?
Why is it so, shall we say, cheap? Why are we organized—politically,
socially—primarily around its elimination? Why are guns so damn sacred... not
to mention fighter jets, nuclear weapons, our annual military budget? Why do
the following words make me cringe:
“We cannot—must not—go down this road in America,
Violence has never been the answer.”
This is U.S. President Joe Biden, blathering a heart-stabbing lie—also known as the thing most politicians mean the least when they say it—to clueless America in the wake of the latest mass shooting.
We are deeply, deeply down this road! We have a trillion-dollar annual military budget and maintain around 750 military bases around the world.
We are, under Joe’s watch, bleeding billions of dollars to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu so Israel can inflict genocide on Palestine. Indeed, an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza on the same day as the Trump rally assassination attempt killed nearly 100 Palestinians.
“We cannot—must not—go down this road in America... ”
Yeah, sure. This is the road we’ve chosen: the road to hell. The job most
presidents have chosen, at least in my lifetime, has been that of public
relations director in chief, softening our militarism with the platitudes of
state.
As Phil Wilson writes
at Common Dreams: “Until 1949, the federal agency responsible for
the U.S. military was simply called The Department of War—a rather nondescript,
generic title that tells us nothing about intent. But with the advent of the
Cold War and the new mandate to unleash military might against leftist regimes
in every corner of the globe, our military needed a brand new identity. In
1949, just in time for decades of war in Southeast Asia, we decided to call our
military The Department of Defense. This made it clear that bombing, defoliating,
and reducing civilian populations to ash thousands of miles from U.S.
borders—in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia—were acts of ‘defense.’”
Wilson also notes, cogently: “I have always suspected
that the Republicans control the American narrative and the Democrats lip sync
to the latest MAGA tunes.”
In other words, this is a “unified”
nation, despite the anger, despite the hatred, volleying back and forth between
the two primary political parties. The nation is unified in its militarism,
unified in its refusal to acknowledge that war always comes home and that
humanity must evolve beyond it or we will surely destroy ourselves.
America, guns—the two entities seem to be linked...
religiously. This link very much predates our founding. Think of the Crusades.
Think of the sheer emergence of empires across the planet throughout history.
Our god is better than your god! The power to obliterate opposition—the power
to kill—has long been sacred, both collectively and personally.
The irony of this is soul twisting, especially as it
exists in present-day America, where personal weapon use, aka, self-defense, is
ever more glorified, leading us into the current social structure. Guns are the
essential symbol of freedom; they are increasingly available to almost everyone
and legal to possess almost everywhere. Hence, the irony:
“Thanks to Wisconsin state law, guns will be allowed in
the outer perimeter of the Republican National Convention even after Saturday’s
assassination attempt against Donald Trump.”
Thus reports The New Republic, adding: “People can
open-carry guns and conceal-carry with a permit in a less strict perimeter
surrounding a ‘hard’ perimeter controlled by the Secret Service around the
Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee as the RNC begins tonight. A Milwaukee city
ordinance, however, bans tennis balls and paintball guns in the outer
perimeter. Effectively, an AR-15 can be carried within walking distance of the
RNC hall, but a paintball gun can’t, and it’s all thanks to Wisconsin’s
open-carry laws.”
Declaring the situation “utterly ridiculous,” Milwaukee
alderman Robert Bauman put it this way to ABC News: “I mean, I could just picture
this image of somebody coming up to the entry point with, you know, an AR-15
strapped over one shoulder, a long rifle over another, and two pistols in his
belt, and the cops asking him, ‘You got any tennis balls?’”
Yeah, the irony! I definitely do not expect this matter
to be resolved politically. Tougher and saner gun laws have been shot and
killed, but it’s bigger than that anyway. The USA has adorned itself in
military cammies. It has a holster and a six-gun on its belt. This is who we
are, and we’re always on the lookout for enemies, which are everywhere
(particularly at the southern border). The national religion is us vs. them—the
simplest religion available.
And it’s also the most profitable.
Nonetheless, many, many Americans—many citizens of the
world—are devoting their lives to the long, complex trek beyond the religion of
guns and violence and militarism. Power is a matter of connection with the
whole universe.
ROBERT C. KOEHLER is an award-winning, Chicago-based journalist and nationally syndicated writer. Koehler has been the recipient of multiple awards for writing and journalism from organizations including the National Newspaper Association, Suburban Newspapers of America, and the Chicago Headline Club. He's a regular contributor to such high-profile websites as Common Dreams and the Huffington Post. Eschewing political labels, Koehler considers himself a "peace journalist. He has been an editor at Tribune Media Services and a reporter, columnist and copy desk chief at Lerner Newspapers, a chain of neighborhood and suburban newspapers in the Chicago area. Koehler launched his column in 1999. Born in Detroit and raised in suburban Dearborn, Koehler has lived in Chicago since 1976. He earned a master's degree in creative writing from Columbia College and has taught writing at both the college and high school levels. Koehler is a widower and single parent. He explores both conditions at great depth in his writing. His book, "Courage Grows Strong at the Wound" (2016). Contact him or visit his website at commonwonders.com.