Image by Heather Mount.
The U.S. political system runs on the fuel of euphemism—the ability to conceal nefarious aspirations beneath the facade of idealistic slogans. Consider the U.S. Department of Corporate Violence (USDOCV) which, oddly, we have renamed the U.S. Department of Defense (USDOD). I use the word, renamed rather loosely, for The Department of Corporate Violence always required a pseudonym.
The public never became privy to the relationship between corporate greed and U.S. military adventure—at least not without some poking around beneath the surface. President Dwight Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex—an informal term that comes precariously close to letting the secret out of the bag.
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.” The word defense had to go through conceptual contortions to befuddle the U.S. masses, but that is the nature of euphemistic language.
Many have ventured to assert that the U.S. is the most violent, militaristic nation in human history, both in terms of our astronomical military budget and our almost subliminal bombardment with pro-military, pro-police propaganda. It is easier in the U.S. to procure a firearm than it is to get a decent haircut or a high quality slice of pizza, and we shoot one another with such casual predictability that a mass shooting passes out of the news cycle faster than a celebrity divorce.
So why do we hear from politicians and media that they are shocked and horrified that someone took a shot at Donald Trump? We have been told, in the last few days, that “violence has no place in American life.” It can’t be just the usual embarrassment that U.S. leaders have about their blood-soaked deeds. I can count at least six Democrats who said the exact same lin—Biden, Obama, Schumer and three others whose names I have forgotten. Maybe it’s a hundred Democrats who said this. We all lose track. “Violence has no place in American life.”
Say what? Violence has such an enormous role in American existence that our government spends $3.1 billion annually to protect politicians from the armed-to-the-teeth citizens who despise them. That is right—the Secret Service budget is almost a third of the money allotted to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA, that Trump threatens to dismantle entirely, is responsible for putting up some sort of feeble resistance to the sixth extinction.
Apparently, the $3.1 billion needed to protect our elected leaders from the AR-15 wielding hordes that dream of blowing their brains out is not enough. All it took was one distracted agent with his eyes on his Smart Phone—watching that Post Malone and Morgan Wallen video on YouTube, perhaps—and now the Secret Service budget might need more of your tax money than we use to keep a small percentage of our leaking neurotoxins away from your drinking water.
Out of slavish respect for our wounded former guy who takes offense at this point, the Democrats and the press are cautiously avoiding the elephant in the room: unregulated access to military grade weapons. These same Democrats are also falling all over themselves to proclaim their agonized grief over the shooting. After all, the rhetorical excesses—comparing Trump to Hitler just because Julius Streicher’s words pour out of Trump’s throat—was bound to encourage violence in an otherwise peace-loving country.
I have always suspected that the Republicans control the American narrative and the Democrats lip sync to the latest MAGA tunes. That is why Biden initiated an almost exact replica of MAGA’s murderous immigration plans. The Democrats will crawl on their knees to prove that they have no ill intent toward Trump. Expect to hear many confessions of just how joyful they are about Trump’s survival.
The issue is not to tamp down the rhetorical bile and show mutual respect. It is way too fucking late for that. We have two genocidal parties that both cater to corporations and engage in nasty political theater to amuse their bases, and we also have a pissed off, disempowered populace beleaguered by neurotoxins, and heavily armed. Too many Democrats, and even a few Republicans, are beseeching us to take the discourse “down a notch.” That is like telling a heroin addict, shaking with cravings, to “just say no.”
The flash flood of Democratic platitudes on behalf of civility and the parallel gushers of concern for Trump’s welfare are a collective prostration to MAGA narratives. The Democrats are beside themselves with guilt for calling Trump a fascist or a Nazi wannabe. The Republicans accuse the Democrats of fomenting violence and the Democrats swear allegiance to the principles of Gandhi. In truth, violence and militarism are the true balm to heal our divided nation. Both parties love cops, guns and fighter planes. Nothing brings America together like a bipartisan orgy of military spending.
If you take away political drama, our entire system of governance would be naked and ashamed. The answer is to just spend more on Secret Service protection. Put an entire army battalion phalanx around Trump—and Biden too. The Secret Service budget is already the size of the entire NBA payroll. But we always have unlimited funding for police and military, so it should not be a problem. We never have enough money in America for housing, medical care, mental health or environmental cleanup, but a united Republican/Democratic lovefest can conjure money out of your taxes for enough nuclear warheads to obliterate the Milky Way.
As the U.S. descends into fascism there will be a lot of guns and police around. We better get used to it.
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