And wrong.

The usual suspects are now pimping for the US to go to war. This kind of behavior happens around once every ten years. It was slightly impeded by President Trump who had the temerity to suggest that we could get along with other countries, but once he was no longer in the White House, I knew we were up for another war. I predicted in January of 2021 that we’d be in a new war by October. I was wrong but only by a few months.

Normal people instinctively think war is wrong. War, of course, is horrifically bad, ugly, dangerous, and the cause of enormous suffering. Not to mention that the ones suffering are disproportionately the poor, the underclasses, women, and children.

But since the 1970s in the US, we’ve had a war party that has never seen an invasion or bombing that they didn’t like. They usually label themselves neocons. Their own families are almost never an actual part of these wars, and they themselves suffer no more than an occasional off day in their stock portfolios. There is also an oddly large number of these warmongers who are immigrants: Canadian immigrant David Frum, Soviet emigre Max Boot come to mind, although there are others. And of course they are not alone. They are ably assisted but a lot of people who usually benefit financially, and enjoy being on the side of war because it makes them welcome at all the right parties. Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld were among the enablers who lied us into an Iraq invasion.

At one point in the 1960s, it was unfashionable to like war, and it’s now equally fashionably to mock the 60s and the idealism of that time. And there was plenty to make fun of. But I’m just going to say right up front that I’d rather be mocked for being antiwar than be despised for being a huckster for war.

So now we’re being warned that we must invade Ukraine. The usual demonization is occurring. Like the lurid tales presented in the (1991) invasion of Kuwait, like the stories of the evil Serbs (1997), and the stories of evil Iraqi soldiers in 2003, we’re already hearing the stories of evil Russian soldiers.

Virtually no one who wants us to invade Ukraine could ever find that country on a map. Virtually none of the warmongers know anything of the history of the relations between Russia and Ukraine.

They know NOTHING about this proposed war. But they want it because they are already invested in stocks that will benefit from a war and help rescue the current administration’s dire poll numbers.

What’s troubling is that we were warned. Like failed candidate Hilary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden warned that he would go to war. Even the unfailingly war mongering New York Times conceded that Donald Trump was the peace candidate in these elections.

Americans were told that Joe Biden would go to war. And millions still voted for him.

War is literally a life and death matter. We are looking at the possibility of the deaths of thousands of people. Not to mention a war with another thermonuclear power. But still we barrel on toward a pointless, unnecessary war.

This is the time to stop. This is the time to admit the shame of civilized people wanting war for no reason except for their own self gain. The psalmist prays “Scatter thou the people that delight in war.”

We can stop this. We can become a better, more civilized, and peace filled people. It’s not too late.