This is exactly what I worry about. It's possible that if a corporation demanded strict multiculturalism in support of consumerist free trade, the military would stand by instead of protecting the victims of affirmative action.
Of course it would stand by. It is not the business of our military to interefere with civilian life. Everything inside our borders is what citizens made. Corporations have power because American citizens surrender power to greedy politicians the second they leave the voting booth. The American refusal to pay taxes is why we have whole cities filing for bankruptcy and Amercians bitching about the lack of firemen to put forest fires out.
But I think you are going too far with the multiculturalism. That's exactly what the American society is. Always has been. Affirmative Action began with government (namely Kennedy). Corporations didn't create todays world. The voter did. How many Republicans bitch about paying taxes then bitch that corporations are screwing America as it gets richer by avoiding its share of taxes? How many bitch about our debt, but refuse to pay the taxes needed to fix it? How many Democrats surrender everthing they believe in as soon as their guy enters the White House and does the same stupid crap the guy they hated did?
Our entire system is a joke anymore. Looking to the military to fix it or to defend the average citizen against himself is pointless. Corporations are a product of our Constitution. Free Enterprise is a mainstay. One of the things that sets our cultur aside form the rest is how easy it is for us to invent and commericialize our ideas effectively into the global market. But this tends to create corporations, right? Corporations is the price of doing business and exploiting our freedoms. The ones who should really be angry are the military careerists who spent a life defending an ideal only to turn around and see the mess between North Carolina and California. My disdain is less towards the machines of government and corporation and more towards the average citizen who doesn't even understand his own culture as he tears at everything that has made us the most powerful nation in history.
What will happen when there are no more entanglements in need of democracy? Furthermore, why are current democracies obligated to provide for the liberation of others? It's like forcing people to play "superman" for the unappreciative.
Democracy will always be needed if society and civilization wishes to grow beyond the ideas of single individuals. Unfortunately, because we don't have a single decider beauracracy often obstructs progress. That's the price. But it beats getting your family imprisoned and oppressed into compliance.
I get it, but there is reason. It's the same reason blacks and whites find each other in the same room. It's the same reason nations like North Korea, Iran, Syria, Russia, and Venezuela hang together on international issues. It is the same reason Christians and Muslims spread in history (aside from religous prescription). *There is strength in numbers.
Our freedom and democracy is for us alone. We did it for ourselves and we aren't obligated to spread our way of life to anybody. Our preaching and rhetoric doesn't mean that we hold responsibility to create it for others. The world's population likes to call us hypocrits, but **** 'em. We exist for us. However, there are truths to be acknowledged....
1) America's security has always relied upon the health of foriegn regions (I can exhaust you with the details). This is why we have frequently had to venture beyond our shores even during our isolationalist phase to create or preserve "stability" that was in our favor. During the Cold War we engaged in the dictator for hire game of European and Soviet design because it was easier. But since we stand on the side of freedom and democracy, the entire West has been an example of what to do to others on how to create progress.
2) However, until Iraq 2003 we have mostly merely preached on the merits of freedom and democracy. Sure we aided in funds here and there and supported those who walked the path on their own to guarantee their preservation, but we finally came to a conclusion during the 90s. Bill Clinton, the Pentagon, and intelligent cultural analysts everywhere figured out that the end of the Cold War also produced an instability that dictators could no longer provide. After asking and demanding for freedom for centuries, these type societies imploded. Yugoslavia cracked into tribes. Iraq's tribes "behaved" as long as their brutal dictator remained in power. Other dictators were clinging to brutal tactics to keep their rebelling tribes in line. When the Arab Spring kicked off it proved that even the people of the Middle East can see the writing on the wall, which was that the future belongs to democracies. This doesn't mean that we care about Iraqis, Libyans, Afghans, etc. But what it does mean is that since our security depends on the health of foriegn regions... and that democracy is the theme now....it is time we practice what we preach to the outside.
But the ultimate problem for citizens Europe is that they are too selfish to see what it takes to preserve their pampered asses. And the ultimate problem for citizens in America is that since they don't understand their own history they cling to defintiions according to our haters around the globe and demand that efforts only occur after we've been attacked on our soil. Also they attempt to apply to much morality into international affairs to a world where morality is BS. They don't seem to get that Somali pirates hijacking a ship full of Chinese goods will affect their Wal-Mart shelves. Or their gas price when dictators decide to turn off the valve. Stable regions is the key. During the Cold War it was the dictator. Today it is democracy. And isn't this the environment we have been basically guiding and leading the world to anyway?
I agree. The problem is America is addicted to consumerism which requires free trade instead of respecting free markets at home. A corporation could provoke this addiction by demanding that Americans change their way of life.
These consumerists don't respect domestic producers, yet insist on pitying foreign producers.
Consumerists want their "MTV." They don't care where it comes from when they look for the best price. That's capitalism and that's enterprise. Corporations and industry will always go to cheap labor. It used to be the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Then it was India. South America. Now China. The future is Africa. Don't be surprised one day when China's rising economy hits the cultural brick wall and your goods start saying "Made in Africa."
How do you think we can change the defense industry from caring about technology to caring about morale?
To be clear, I was talking about the morale behind taxpayer Dollars before, but your point about jobs is another good point.
We can't. Morality is a luxury. Proven time and again. When sales are up, morality can matter. When you are able to provide for your family, morality matters. When you are the richest nation in history and the most powerful in history, morality matters. But how much does morality matter to the thief stealing bread and milk for his family? Or that third world nation that somehow must provide for millions of starving people? Morality is a luxury. But it has nothing to do with the Dollar. That's all business. Do you know why ethics is a class for business majors and lawyers? Because it isn't natural to what they do to succeed. It must be forced.
