Thank you for your service Sir! I think I could of fought in the Civil War Military as opposed to the modern Military because to make it in the 19th Century Military you just needed a death wish and you either were shot or you went home. The modern Military has a tremendously more details that drives people to suicide and depression. Its very unfortunate.

If you don't like Trump and also like Globalism I respect that. I believe there are ways to embrace true fiscal conservatism (reduced zoning laws and Sub-Blue Laws), such that we could circumvent the need for anti-globalist policies.

Republican in name only (RINO) (definition)

As for the RINOs and Liberal Elite, if they keep getting what they want then we probably will have to have "universal basic income". The problem is many Libertarians might get violent over that.

God bless you Sir! I wish you the best.

Thank you, Christian.

I agree that fighting during the Civil War (an oxymoron if ever there was one) must have been hell. Fighting in any war is. Too bad Homo Sapiens has not gotten past that moment in its evolution yet.

I have written op ed pieces for decades now...and I have advocated for a form of Universal Basic Income since before most people even heard of it. I think some variant of the theme will be essential to humanity getting past this time where the full time toil of humans is not necessary to meet their needs.

I think that at some point, Libertarians will come around to realize the need for major adjustment to the concept of "earning a living."

Stay well!

i have to head out. I'll respond when i get back. Have a great day!

I am a vet...served in SAC during the 1950's. We were major league bad-asses...the most bad-ass military force ever on planet Earth at that time. — Frank Apisa

I'll add that you had as your commander the most badd-ass American general in US history during 1948-1957. Or at least equivalent to some bad-ass generals like Patton, Sherman or Stonewall Jackson.

(I'll bet the Air Force will reinstate SAC in the future, just like the Russians noticed that they needed more umph to their land forces made up from brigades and formed the 1st Guards Tank Army in 2014 again.)

I think Trump has done more damage to our Republic in the last three years than all our foreign enemies combined have over the 250+ years of our existence. I consider him an existential threat to our survival...and, unfortunately, I think he will be re-elected. — Frank Apisa

Your not made from paper, so I guess the Republic will survive Trump.

But the global leadership role of the US is gone or is going. Nobody can trust that the US will take the leadership role. It is withdrawing everywhere. And many Americans cheer this. As if all that the US has done is bad and absolutely nothing good has come from the leadership role. As if that prosperity that the US enjoys wasn't based on the post-WW2 international institutions made in the interest of the US itself.

I think "globalism" is the only decent way for intelligent beings to go. Parochialism sucks like a black hole. — Frank Apisa

The basic problem is that the criticism against globalism, just like against US foreign policy, has overwhelmed the discussion and totally dominates the discourse over the issues. Our way of life actually depends on globalization and even if there are excesses, the positive surely outweighs the negative. In public discourse, not so. The positive aspects globalism are just taken as a given and perhaps not even understood to be part of globalism / globalization. The focus is on the excesses. That global povetry has been dramatically reduced doesn't mean anything. It's not the facts people want to hear.

We have had a real breakdown of globalization earlier in history. The refer to it as the "Antique Times" ending and turning into "the Dark Ages". The names are quite telling what happened.

Will this incessant need for power and domination ever cease? — Wallows

I certainly hope not. The fact that millions of Americans, including politicians, business leaders, and ordinary citizens, wake every morning driven passionately to keep America at the center of the universe allows me sleep safely and relieves me of the pessimism that everyone here confuses for astute grave observation.

Will this incessant need for power and domination ever cease? — Wallows

I just finished reading Howard Bloom's 1997 book, The Lucifer Principle. He addresses that very question. And the answer is . . . well, you need to read the book. His thesis is that "evil --- which manifests in violence, destructiveness and war --- is woven into our biological fabric". He's talking about Genes (inheritance; testosterone) and Memes (beliefs; ideals). The Genes, for good evolutionary reasons, cause males to become aggressive and competitive as they enter puberty. And Memes, for the benefit of tribes & nations (superorganisms), take advantage of the innate tendency of individual males to challenge "the pecking order", by creating belief systems that glorify war & violence. Thus has it ever been.

But, in answer to your plaint, Bloom has concluded --- like Steven Pinker, in The Better Angels of Our Nature --- that our species is making slow-but-measurable progress toward controlling our primitive impulses. Yet, he warns that America is on the downside of its brief period of "greatness" that Trump -- emulating Hitler -- wants to return to. And, the blood-thirsty "barbarians" --- i.e. less constrained cultures, such as the Islamic Caliphates --- are at the gate, itching to knock-off the "top dog", the "alpha male", the "cock of the walk", the Roman Empire. So, don't expect the adolescent dominance- testing to end anytime soon.

I agree that fighting during the Civil War (an oxymoron if ever there was one) must have been hell. Fighting in any war is. Too bad Homo Sapiens has not gotten past that moment in its evolution yet.

I have written op ed pieces for decades now...and I have advocated for a form of Universal Basic Income since before most people even heard of it. I think some variant of the theme will be essential to humanity getting past this time where the full time toil of humans is not necessary to meet their needs.

I think that at some point, Libertarians will come around to realize the need for major adjustment to the concept of "earning a living."

Stay well! — Frank Apisa

Based on a certain book in a certain Holy book (not naming it due to site guidelines) total globalism will happen after X time and i believe it would be silly to assume universal basic income will never happen. In all honesty if universal basic income was done right, it could please even the libertarians. However there are wrong ways it could be done.

Have a great day, Sir!

America: Why the lust for domination and power?

Puritan ethic. You got this in junior high school; you just didn't understand it. Not your fault; likely your teacher didn't either.

I think the notion of "earning one's living" is a concept of the past...and simply cannot survive this advanced evolution of the Industrial Age. It must go the way of the dinosaur...and quickly, or we are in very big trouble. — Frank Apisa

Nice. I have not seen this idea expressed this way. For some people, it's aready happened, but within variations of the social-security, social-welfare state. And I think you are exactly right. Alas, being right is in-itself not always the solution.

Perhaps a determination of some reasonable mean of comfort and well-being that all ought to enjoy, that could be aimed for. Food, clothing, shelter, & etc. Maybe Maslow's hierarchy of needs for a start. But is there enough for all? Earth as Utopia is a long way off, if ever.

Yup, Tim, Earth as Utopia IS a long way off. In fact, Earth as a scorched Earth is probably more likely; Earth as a gigantic, intolerable chasm between Very, Very Well-off and Not Nearly Enough is more likely.

The fact is, though, that humans react as we near that extreme in predictable ways. The human of France during the late 18th Century...reacted in that "predictable" way; the humans of early 20th Century Russia did also.

I'd love to think we will come to terms with that inevitability BEFORE we arrive there...and deal it in a less violent way.

Perhaps we can't. I'll continue to hope we can...and will.

We'll see.

In any case, thank you for your remarks on what I had to say.

Puritan ethic. You got this in junior high school; you just didn't understand it. Not your fault; likely your teacher didn't either. — tim wood

Protestant work ethic, not uniquely Puritan. And what does Calvinism have to do with taking over the world? Nothing, actually

The US became a super power because Europe abandoned the role post WW2.

I am a vet...served in SAC during the 1950's. We were major league bad-asses...the most bad-ass military force ever on planet Earth at that time. — Frank Apisa

So did I. ADC & SAC 1958-62. Never saw Lemay - he was out of the SAC by then - but an acolyte of his, a one-star, came up on occasion to Glasgow AFB, and he was a nasty SOB.

I have mixed feelings about universal basic incomes and welfare in general. On one hand there are certainly those who need the help, but there are always the scum who take advantage of the system. When I was in England in 1985 to give a talk to the British Mountaineering Council I met a number of healthy and athletic young men who were on the dole, pooling their funds to rent a house, then spending most of their time happily rock climbing, supported by the English taxpayers. And, as a college instructor, I saw how some veterans would get the GI Bill, enroll in classes, then drop out after the first week - happy to get an "F" and then re-enroll the next semester. (After learning of this I would remove them from my rolls early in the term and notify the registrar)

There will always be those who game the system.

As for America's military might, I'd rather it exist than not. I suppose I just don't see the lust. Trump will serve his term(s), then return to his businesses. If you think it has been a trying time since the 2016 election, you should have been around through the 1960s.

Your last thought first. Since I was serving in SAC during the 1950's, I WAS around during the 1960's. The 60's were a blast...and my personal opinion is that we'd all be better off if some of the 60's attitude would prevail right now.

As for "gaming the system"...well, that is what I want to happen. I want the "gamers" to have enough so they can live a decent life without screwing up the productivity of our world. The kind who would "game the system" are not the kind of people we should want working. Not only are the UNPRODUCTIVE, most are COUNTERPRODUCTIVE. We end up with less because they are forced to work...than if we had forced them NOT to work.

Said another way: I do not want unproductive people taking jobs away from more productive people...or from MUCH more productive machines, simply because we demand that people work for a living.

Complicated...and I may do a thread on it at some point.

Thanks for serving, J. I never saw LeMay either...and he was around during my time. (I served in England.) I still remember the picture of him under the wing of a bomber being fueled, his famous cigar jutting out from his mouth. The conversation of the two cartoon airmen went:

Airman one, "Doesn't he know how dangerous that is. The plane might explode."

Second one, "It wouldn't dare!"

you should have been around through the 1960s. — jgill

I WAS around during the 1960's. The 60's were a blast... — Frank Apisa

Sorry, Frank. I meant the generic "you".

Well, I've not come across your opinions of welfare and UBI before. Interesting to say the least. You should start a thread about that.

I missed direct and intense involvement in the major issues of the 1960s, beginning with 1960-62 when B-52s flew 24/7 from my base, loaded to the gills with nukes, flying out over the Laurentian Shield to the edge of the Soviet Union, then back. Watching the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV after the JFK assassination. And of course assassinations of MLK and Robert Kennedy. Huntley/Brinkley with the daily body count from Vietnam (58,318 total American deaths). Dead students at Kent State (1970), and disappearances of civil right workers in Mississippi and Alabama (where I lived through 1964).

But I did attend a Joan Baez concert at Stillman College and sang Kumbaya with her and the chorus. And I visited several hippie communes and was impressed with the industriousness and sharing among the participants.

All in all, I do not consider the 1960s the best of times. The 1960s vs the 2010s? Which era was worst?

Watching the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV after the JFK assassination. — jgill

JFK was going to break up the CIA and make peace with the Soviets. Once the deep state got rid of him, no president ever challenged the war machine and the intelligence agencies again. Till Trump. Just sayin'.

JFK was going to break up the CIA and make peace with the Soviets. Once the deep state got rid of him, no president ever challenged the war machine and the intelligence agencies again. Till Trump. Just sayin'. — fishfry

Correct!

Yeah, the 60's have some horrible memories for those who were around, Gill. Lots of truly bad stuff went down. But it was a transformative time...and America did a lot of growing up during those days.

I spent the last days of the 1950's stationed England...and saw music from America imported into that country. I had no idea that in just a few years, things would be turned around completely with the British Invasion.

Honestly, in my 83 years...I feel that the America of today...the America under Trump...is by far the darkest point in our history. Granted, Civil War days (before my time :wink:) were probably worse, but for the time in which I've been alive...this sucks the most. I have trouble processing the fact that so many Americans feel comfortable with what is happening and defend the damage being done to institutions and norms of our society right now.

Interesting fact that I just realized recently: Almost one-third of all the presidents who have ever served in the office...have served during my lifetime! Strange feeling, that.

One day, at a time of growing strife and increasing anxiety, the Goddess of Wisdom incarnated into visible form and approached the great city and lamented, “O Empirium, city that kills the innocent, devours the Earth, and stones those who are sent to help it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For the days have come upon you, when your enemies set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed are they who come in the name of compassionate wisdom.’”

(Translated and adapted (for whatever it may be worth) these familiar quotes for those whom, like myself, have developed (unfortunately yet understandably) an allergy to the once-inspiring beliefs and ideals stolen and distorted to serve the unquenchable fires of greed and hatred).

Honestly, in my 83 years — Frank Apisa

We're exactly the same age, Frank. :smile:

I suspect that the Trump Effect will subside, and I don't fear the man and his policies, but who can tell what will come next? Will the two major Parties continue the fight each other rather than do the peoples' business? I like Uncle Bernie and have long been an advocate of universal health care and easy access to higher education, and were he to ascend to the throne we might move slowly in that direction.

Puritan ethic.
— tim wood
Protestant work ethic, — frank

Not the same thing. Even have different words. The work ethic is a red-haired child of the ethic itself. Research antinomianism, esp, New England, c. 1630.

Very roughly, grace cannot be earned or bought, it's free. But not all get it, and, they (Puritans, and certainly lots of other people) could not keep themselves from (heretically) suspecting that the one with the most toys was the most saved. Which created a long-term and still rippling cultural effect: that if you're good, you get; if you've gotten you must be good: getting, then, is proof of goodness. It gets more complicated. It's but a mere hop, skip, and jump to the conclusions of manifest destiny and the imperative to world hegemony.