The above quotation comes from President Kennedy in his address of September 25, 1961, to the UN General Assembly. Yet, in America, today, the military-industrial-technology complex, believes wholeheartedly, by its very actions, that the way to peace, must come through the sword. Indeed, this is the very opposite of what President Kennedy was expressing, for Kennedy rightfully feared that this world, if it continued to try to resolve issues with warfare, could end up with this world, totally annihilated through nuclear conflagration.
It is exceedingly dangerous for this nation, as well as many other nations, to continue to build up their respective armaments, without seeming to understand that all these resources devoted to such armaments, will either essentially be a total waste of those funds, or will end up being utilized for the wanton destruction of infrastructure, as well as the brutal killing of other human beings. Those that will not learn the lessons of the past, or choose to ignore such, are going to continue to make the very same mistakes that they have been making, for generation after generation, in which, warfare in this day and age, cannot be, and should not be seen as being the sensible solution to the problems and disputes that confront us.
In consideration, that Americas’ military budget, exceeds the next ten countries combined, this reflects fairly that America believes that might makes right. Such a belief as that, is consistent with a nation that doesn’t believe in or adhere to the spirit of its own Constitution, and does not believe that diplomacy or treaties or arms control, has any real legitimacy, anymore. This is why the world continues to have so much warfare, and further why there is no hope for any lasting peace throughout the world, whatsoever. It is extremely disappointing that the so-called “leader of the free world” leads not by diplomacy, leads not by democracy, leads not by justice, but leads, first and foremost, by war or the constant threatening of such.
The question that is seldom asked, but yet needs to be asked, is what is all the fighting about? The second question that needs to be asked, is why is it that America needs to insist upon being involved in every dispute that one nation has against another, or that one peoples have against another peoples, in which, rather than playing the role of peacemaker, America prefers to choose a side and then conduct its warfare, directly or indirectly, through proxy or not.
It is so disappointing that through all of these wars, society never really finds itself coming ever closer to peace, but rather, one war needs to the next war, and then the next, ad nauseam. There isn’t any real good reason why Kennedy’s words need to be prophetic, but the trajectory that this superpower nation is on, is clearly that, in which, it can only end in the annihilation of mankind. And for what? For indeed, the intelligence, the knowhow, and the capacity for a lasting peace, is ours for the taking, which would make for a better, fairer, and more just world, if only we would exert our efforts for that very thing.