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"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most
to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And
armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the
many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary
power of the Executive is extended. Its influence in dealing out
offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of
seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the
people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the
inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a
state of war . . . and in the degeneracy of manners and morals,
engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of
continual warfare."
James Madison, April 20, 1795 |
Major General Smedley Butler (USMC), twice awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor (1914, 1917) and the Distinguished service
medal (1919), spoke from experience in 1933 about how war is just a
racket.
"I wouldn't go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy
investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight
for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of
Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. ". . . I spent
thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a
member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. .
. . I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big
Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a
racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. . . .
"I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil
interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the
National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping
of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall
Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua
for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912
(where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican
Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see
to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. "During those
years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket.
Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few
hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three
districts. I operated on three continents."
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