The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.

Americans how long will it take for us to understand we have been “had?”

It is family, school, faith and community members who help each generation learn it is better to talk to people than fight, kill and destroy. These are the great Americans.

I am repulsed by so many politicians like Mr. Trump who shovel praise upon our military but who, themselves, feel they are too good to serve our Nation.

Nearly all the wars since WWII have been illegal wars of aggression under our Constitution, United Nations Charter and treaties. Yet the military, CIA, presidents like Bush, Obama and Trump and individual Congressional members keep howling for blood.

Did the Romans stamp out Christianity by all their killing? Did the US win in Vietnam by killing a million Vietnamese? Are we winning the hearts and minds of Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians, or North Africans by killing their families, lovers, babies and friends by the hundreds of thousands?

I say no! You cannot kill ideas with a bullet. Thinking human beings know that.

When Democratic and Republican presidential candidates call out “We will hunt down and kill all Al-Qaeda, ISIS, etc. members and their families” we know our Nation is being run by idiots.

Or, is it being run by lying actors who push wars for the benefit of the military/industrial/politician complex that makes big bucks off of continuous war?

On Nov. 6, 2018 we will elect a new Congress (all the House members and 33 senators will be up for election.) Is it time to throw the bums out, keep the few good ones and start turning America into a Nation of peace builders and turn our backs on war mongering?

Take your choice on Nov. 6th. And if you choose continuous war, get ready to donate your sons and daughters to war’s meat grinding machine – the draft will return because the American volunteer military is broken.

Trump and fools in Congress can throw another $54 billion on top of the $600 billion the Pentagon already gets for more tools of war. But the military system is broken and cannot be fixed with more dollars.

For the truth they do not know.

The US has been checkmated in all the wars from Vietnam onward. Why? Because one “enemy” after another learns NOT to fight Americans as Americans want to fight. Washington won the Revolutionary War because he did NOT fight the way the British wanted. Europeans fought marching into one another, firing as they marched. Washington avoided that sort of fight. He sniped, attacked small groups with overwhelming force and ran from the British to keep his army from being destroyed. In short he DID NOT FIGHT the war the British wanted to fight.

Ho Chi Min and his leaders learned history well.

Americans want to fight as in WWII and Korea – massive armies, tanks and artillery going at each other in large battles. Vietnamese learned Washington’s lesson: snipe, ambush, trail bombs, surprise night attacks and withdraw before the Americans can get organized to fight back. Al Qaeda and ISIS have learned how to fight back against overwhelming American firepower and maneuverability by making American troops fearful of even leaving their bases due to roadside bombs, sniping and suicide bombers.

We Americans know: When we try our best again and again and it does not work, it is time to change what we are doing.

The conflicts we have over raw materials like oil or markets cannot be resolved by force. We must improve our skills and abilities to make peace and create understanding in a rapidly changing world.

Today, just 1% of the world’s 7.3 billion people control half the world’s wealth. Children are starving while food is buried in landfills, babies die of cheaply cured diseases, many do not have clean water to drink. The inequality of wealth, healthcare, education, future and the cruel use of power creates hatreds. Hatreds cannot be dissolved by bullets.

So Mr. Trump you are so wrong. You are proving to the world that the super-rich and powerful can be smart and ignorant simultaneously and lead great nations toward their destruction.

Americans we must work together for the next two years to throw the bums out on Nov. 6, 2018 — or sooner via impeachment. For Trump, the man who admires law and order, does not follow the laws himself.

— Buzz Davis, formerly of Stoughton now of Tucson, is a long time progressive activist, a member of Veterans for Peace and a former VISTA Volunteer, Army officer, elected official, union organizer, impeachment organizer, Exec.VP of WI Alliance4Retired Americans and retired state government planner. dbuzzdavis@aol.com

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