A Nation At War

Many pixels and, later, much ink are spilled over the military affairs of the United States. Even in the distant eddy of mainstream culture that is our rural community, I hear echoes both of insistent nationalism (labeled "war-mongering" by the other side) and disgruntled anti-imperialism (labeled "socialism" by the other side). I feel a great deal of heat--and sometimes a little light--radiating from the filaments of war: war in Iraq, war in Afghanistan, now war in Libya. I also feel the tension between an empire's need to secure its boarders, no matter how far out they may be, and the danger of becoming the iron fist hated by the rest of the world.

However, a recurrent realization has dawned on me in the last few weeks--one that certain history teachers from secondary school would, I'm sure, be thrilled to hear. (For it means that their work was not in vain!) A nation, like many of us individuals, must always be at war. The question is not whether a nation will be at war. The question is, Which war will we fight?

The only war that matters in the United States is the outgrowth of our most cherished possession: the freedom of speech. The front from which we must never divert too many resources is the War of Words. We, the people of the United States, must always fight each other's words with more of our own words.

Republicans and Democrats, no matter how many times we roll our eyes at the endless iterations of each, must keep talking at (or past) each other. Both must argue with the talking points of Ralph Nader. Criticism of foreign policy must continue to grace the air waves; complaints about too-soft welfare systems must continue to besiege the local papers. Peace-hawks and war-niks must continue to shout their slogans for all to hear, keeping the War of Words raging, spilling the blood of theories and commemorating dead ideals next to editorial tombs with garlands of metaphor.

Does it go without saying that fighting words is not the same as fighting each other? That ad hominem arguments are against the rhetorical Geneva Convention? Civility can reign between persons, but not between words. For without ludicrosity, against what will the plain truth shine? Without mad rantings by commentators gone over the edge, what will define sanity?

This is our struggle, unser Kampf, the jihad of the American nation: gaining ground in the theater of those things which come before reality yet shape and define it, words. Whatever your stance, whatever your philosophy, whatever your gripe, whatever your purpose, take up arms and answer the call to battle! Speak, write, blog, and sing! Let not the wearied warrior fall!

As the United States military gets involved in Libya, making its presence felt again for better or worse in the Arab world, I feel a sense of foreboding. This could mean more troops, more young men and women off to strange territory to be shot at, bombed, and sent home irreversibly damaged. My inclination is to speak against greater military involvement.

For a moment, however, I step back and think about how it could be, how it might be if our empire were not covetous of a homeland nurtured by a War of Words. What if the Peace-hawks could not speak their piece? What if nationalism had such a hold on us that we feared to voice criticism? What if our elections were driven by something other than Great Ideas versus Bad Ideas?

We would be undivided, unremorseful, and unstoppable. The United States would be the uncontested ruler of the world.

Then we might conscript an extra hundred thousand soldiers, send them to Libya, and take it like a twenty-first century Genghis Khan. Then the Libyan people would have no choice about becoming democratic. Ghadafi would lose his land--and the people would lose their voice.

But this won't happen, because as much as the United States is at war abroad, he is even more at war at home. The empire does not get whatever it wants, because it has a conscience--or thousands of them. Its wars at the far reaches of the earth will always be tempered by the War of Words.

I, for one, am thankful. Vive la guerre des mots! Soldier on, for the sake of the world!

~emrys