by Neville Kennard, veteran preaching and practicing capitalist

“War is the health of the State” ~ Randolph Bourne (1886-1918)

Governments like a crisis. “Don’t waste a good crisis” was an expression heard quite a lot during the Global Financial Crisis. A good crisis gives government the excuse to regulate, and of course to tax. Politicians can be seen to be “doing something”. Bureaucrats can enhance their positions, their departments, their “importance”, their reguslating, taxing and spending.

There is no better “crisis” than a war. Citizens don’t like wars , unless they feel threatened. The Territorial Imperative of all animals, humans included, is instinctive — we are hard-wired to protect our turf. The ability of a smaller and weaker animal, or human, to defend its territory against a bigger aggressor is well-known (hence the “Home Game Advantage” which sporting teams experience).

When a nation is threatened by an invader the “natives” defend like crazy. When such an invasion threatens the government has little trouble rousing the citizens to defend as they are already feeling that their territory, families, homes, property are under threat. But when a government wants a war —  could I even say “needs a war” — and there is no imminent territorial, life or property threat, then it takes more manipulation of the people to engineer a “threat”.

The recent invasion of Iraq was an example of governments engineering a threat, with false information and intelligence. The “Weapons of Mass Destruction” threat that Saddam Hussein was supposed to possess, spruiked up and given the right “spin” by George W. Bush, Tony Blair and followed obsequiously by John Howard and many allies, was just what they needed to create a potential threat and an excuse for a war. It was fairly safe war they created here — long way from home, a weak opposition, a scary Islamist population, the Al Qaeda bogey man so soon after the September terrorist attacks on New York — an easy sell to the populace at the time.

The military like wars. They train and equip and get ready so to be a soldier and not having a war is like a fireman not having a fire. A good little war, like a good little fire, is the opportunity to put all that training and equipment to use.

Patriotism and Nationalism can be brought to the fore, flags can be waved and a good cause created. In the case of the Iraq war there was ridding the world of an ugly dictator, liberating the Iraqi people, and let’s not forget “Making the World Safe for Democracy”! The Making the World Safe for Democracy has been around for a long time and the excuse for many Crusades.  “Democracy” has replaced Christianity as the Just Cause for Crusades and Just Wars in the last hundred years.

Another “Just War” was the invasion of Afghanistan. Here were Al Qaeda and their leader hiding in the hills conspiring to strike again and the horrid Taliban with their repressive beliefs and behaviour. And of course they were Islamists and “different” to us. This war too was a long way from home with the a risk of only slight casualties and the opportunity to use all that good training and gear. (The cost to tax-payers was never considered, nor the possibility of the wrongness of invading another country (call it a Police Action, and call the military “Peace Keepers” helps to make it sound it like a Just War). Nor were the unintended consequences of such an invasion, war and occupation such as actually increasing the recruitment of Al Qaeda potential terrorists considered.

And to illustrate other examples of governments liking wars, when there is no apparent external threat they can create internal threats and declare “War on Drugs”, “War on Terror”, even a “War on Poverty”. Many bad guys can be discovered — Drug Lords and Money Launderers, Terrorist Cells, Al Qaeda Members.

War on Poverty? A bit more problematic to find some Bad Guys here, but hey, the government and its apparatchiks and political supporters can always trot out Big Business and Capitalism; the Multi-Nationals Corporations are always good for a scare and scapegoat —  they are faceless, unaccountable, and are headquartered in Switzerland or Wall Street or The Bahamas.

What is illustrated by this propensity for war is the very nature of The State. Whether States are Autocratic, Communist, Monarchist or Democratic, by their very nature they are controlling, plundering and oppressive of their citizens and can easily ramp this up to become war-like. The bigger and more powerful The State the more is its propensity for wars. Many Mini States, City States, Non-State jurisdictions, Cyber-Nations, Sea-Steads, that give people choice, that provide competition between States and jurisdictions, and offer alternatives and innovations and degrees of freedom are the best chance to reduce wars.

Wars not only kill people, they make us less prosperous, less free. Wars waste lives and resources. The Twentieth Century was the century of huge Nation States, and it was also the century of the most murderous wars and genocides (200 million slaughtered). Let’s hope the twenty-first century sees a break up of big Nation States, a greater choice in countries and jurisdictions in which people may live and a consequent diminution on the propensity to go to war.

“Walk softly and carry a big stick” — perhaps the Swiss have got that somewhat right.