My Life Report: Cornell Woodall Cox

In 1937, still in ethos of the Great Depression, farm life in rural eastern North Carolina brought challengeable endeavors to provide just basic needs for families. Even though the markets of tobacco and other crops faltered or were nonexistent throughout much of that decade, on the horizon was some hope for the future. That year of my birth, Carolina Power and Light Co. erected lines to my Cox grandparents' home; on the other hand, three miles down the road, it would be another ten years before Rural Electrification established service to my parents' Cornice Cornell and Geneva Louise Westbrook Cox's house. Electrical power switched on in May 1947 was one of the happiest days of my life. Oil lamps and its improved version, the Aladdin Lamp, were now needless relics.

Invariably, morning and evening, we heard WWII news by H. V. Kalenborn off the battery radio: events of unsettling news, bombing of Pearl Harbor and the death of President Roosevelt, weighed heavily on my father, who had two brothers in service. Disciplined for quiet time to ensure my daddy wouldn’t miss a word of war news, I sat intently listening. Although I was a child with limited comprehension, these events impressed on me the precariousness of the times, helping me develop a life-time interest in world affairs.

The experience of growing up on a farm in the thirties and forties under conditions today we would describe as third-world gave me invaluable training for the years to come. I am grateful for a work ethic instilled in me during my teenage years from working horses to plow the fields; clearing new-grounds; weeding in vegetable gardens on hot, humid summer days; feeding and tending livestock; milking cows; harvesting tobacco; picking cotton; and building things with handsaw, hammer, nails, and my hands.

Career: After graduating from Four Oaks High School in 1955, I was off to Louisburg Junior College. In two months I became a college dropout, for ineffable reasons. But for certain, in part at least, it was a pining for family and farm life. After I returned to the family farm, in the spring of 1956, my former high-school vocational agriculture instructor encouraged me to run for office in the North Carolina Future Farmers of American. I had been a four-year, enthusiastic member of the FFA and president my senior year, serving also as president of the parliamentary procedure team, which went on to have success in county-level competitions. State FFA officers usually were chosen from freshman students of outstanding agriculture backgrounds from N. C. State University; however, my office-status was born of an actual farmer in practice. Being State FFA Treasurer gave me unique opportunities to grow in leadership development, receive an American Farmers Degree, while having lunch with former President Harry S. Truman in Kansas City Mo. These activities, among others in my home community, were rewarding, as an enviable higher-education was still left to chance. Out of necessity, exceptional diligence would become the standard for success. Fitting to triumph was the FFA motto applied throughout my life (Learning to do, Doing to learn, Earning to live, Living to serve.) And even though a college degree would have opened the door to be that Vocational Agriculture Teacher I had originally envisioned being, it is questionable that that degree may have been a ticket to a more financially, or otherwise, rewarding life. A short farming course at NC State University and classes at the local community college filled in my education. Certainly, a better education would have made some situations more idyllic and opened more opportunities.

Forgoing college education, farming three years with my father after returning from Louisburg, and not seeing a viable financial opportunity or having a sincerely strong desire for farm expansion on my own, I accepted a management offer at a local newly-opened milling company. After two years in that position, circumstances led to my taking a bookkeeping job at Smithfield Oil and Gin Co. (Petroleum products and cotton ginning.) These businesses, relevant to agribusiness and related to my farm experiences, gave me identifiable-blocks to build a career. The private corporation -- serving farmers and home heating customers -- and its eccentric, cynical owner Mr. Johnson, a fiscal conservative, but progressive proprietor, would become my mentors, giving me every opportunity to hone my management skills. I spent eighteen years with Smithfield Oil and Gin (In 1966 renamed Smithfield Oil & Gas - for its propane addition.), staying on after a public corporation (AmeriGas, now the nation's largest propane company) acquired the distributorship. My forty-one year profession in same office and business is unimaginable in today's labor market. I am now retired eleven years after serving as district manager, market manager and the last year on the Business Transformation Team. Innovativeness and initiative and the belief I could do most everything kept the job interesting, maybe sometimes putting me at odds with upper management. Nonetheless, always embolden by passion and infused with that hard work ethic from early life on the farm, I gave the company more than was required or financially compensated. Without higher education, I had to prove myself in a world increasingly valuing academic learning. I certainly came to exemplify that all knowledge does not come from books; with true grit, fortitude and determination, combined with some luck, I succeeded professionally. In an industrious practice of these attributes, searching and being open to innovative ways of doing business, I grade myself an A.

Family: First married in 1959, I have always believed in the importance of family. Although, in the early years of my first marriage, under financial constraints, I may not have always been fair to my family. My motivations, however, were for my family, the duty to provide economically for my wife and children, part of that work ethic I learned from my parents. As the sole bread winner, I dedicated myself to my job, to the business which had hired me. This devotion, however, was never about getting rich --- but financial refuge for family. As I reflect on this period of my life, I ask: Were the finances my sole responsibility? Maybe not. Married to someone who probably suffered from borderline personality disorder, however, I felt at many times like I was by myself in ensuring stability for my family. After twenty three years --- in a second marriage, with a partner equally providing for the new daughters Jane gave me, I have found gratification sharing joys and difficulties that come in family life. My dedication to my job and my work ethic have provided college educations for four children, two with masters degrees. These children are my inspiration, three of them public educators and the fourth one in management for a major clothing company. Reflection of my children's accomplishments has reaffirmed the importance of education. Here at age seventy four, I now have the leisure to read and think and write, adding to the learning I’ve acquired on the job and by my hands. And with that reading, and learning, and reflecting, I come to realize that family is more important than dogged commitment to profession. Given the limitation of my wisdom in those earlier years and the recognition that I could have done more for family, I give myself an A-.

Faith: The Methodist Church has guided my faith's journey from baptism at thirteen years of age onwards. Faith has been an essential part of my life, but, I suppose like many others, at times a passive-Christianity. I have depended on the church family's support in times of life's trials. Over the last many years I have been actively involved in its financial support, leadership, mission, and study. Since retirement, paying closer attention to world-wide church's loss of members in some areas and growth in others, I have become especially interested in what seems to be a new type of Reformation that Harvey Cox, a Harvard religion professor, describes in his book, The Future of Faith. For Cox: Christianity initially moved from its early age of faith to an age of belief, a period emphasizing right belief, dogma. Cox believes that the church is entering a third era, a period he describes as an age of faith (in some ways closer to the earliest age of the church). Many people say: I'm not religious; I'm a spiritual person. (And so am I.) My faith calls me to be aware of this ongoing transitional period and to understand its significance for the church's survival, to be a vital moral agent for communities. As an ecumenical Christian, I believe my faith behooves empathy in other religions. My God must be large enough to embrace all seven-billion people on this planet. More reading and study has given me a new understanding of my faith experience in the church, not totally detached of creed, but aware that Christianity should be more about Jesus' reiteration of the Torah’s to love God and to love neighbor. To do that, you can't be a passive Christian. For my focus on this principle I give my Faith grade a B+.

Community: It's important to be cognizant that community goes far beyond the local neighborhood into an interdependent world that summons whatever initiative and support I may have for better world-understanding and peace. Therefore, I have involved myself as a participant and leader in a variety of organizations that connect local to global: the Jaycees, the Rotary Club, The Salvation Army and my church, Centenary UM. I believe this diverse participation gives me a broader perspective on community. I hope that my participation and leadership in these groups has helped strengthen the social fabric and promoted goodwill at the same time these organizations have allowed me to grow personally. I have tried to take seriously what Arch Klump, a former Rotary International President, admonished: "Principles that are not found in practice are useless, and nothing is ever believed until it's felt necessary." I hope I have lived out this quotation and strengthened community bonds through offering my talent and skill as a woodworker to the service of these organizations and my church, talents and skills I learned on my parents’ farm and in the shop of my vocational agriculture teacher: a large church history cabinet, an electronic sound cabinet, adjustable-height floor and table-top lecterns, and a Celtic cross -- include some of these crafts. These creations and an activeness in mission work strengthen goodwill in community. Initiative and participation of this type, I believe, justifies a B.

Self-knowledge: In the last few years, having more time, I've made a concerted effort to discern the soul that lives within this body. Perhaps the words heading my blog, Critical Actions, give some insight to this goal: "The opinions hereof on religion, politics, economy, humanity, or other topics, are an exercise of self-examination in developing critical thought processes on important issues. Further objective is to encourage others to engage in introspective, honest, respectful, dialogue on issues that will affect our lives - our children's future." "Introspection" is a key word, necessary to define me. In an ongoing self-examination, I embrace a renewed passion for more reading: print and online articles and columns, hard-cover books, books on my Kindle. The Op-Eds in the Times are favorites that have helped broaden my worldview. Being an open-minded person --- skilled writers versed in broader-world-views, such as religious scholar Karen Armstrong and the columnist/author Thomas Friedman, have fashioned my global perception. Reading and reflecting on their ideas brings forth a spirit that beckons a deep conscientiousness and ethical attentiveness in this distraught world. As I read and reflect, I am fully aware of my limitations in education, woodworking, oral communication, and writing, including some poetry I’ve dabbled in. Albeit, an "inner drive" pushes me to reclaim the better angels of humanity, to share with others and to inspire younger generations. Through increased reading, I have discovered a new world of thought-provoking edification that continues to challenge my intellectual boundaries. For this effort, I give myself a Grade A.

My golden years, now spent in a world of magic instant communication and wondrous technologies, have turned out to be one of the most exciting periods of my life.

Lazy: Who Says?

The Occupy movement of recent weeks has been called to question by some of the media as a bunch of lazy-misguided-misfits with no desire to be productive. Do Occupy participants have legitimate beefs? The answer is obviously YES, except that one is unaware of some corporate/government-players' unscrupulousness, or in some cases missteps of financial dealings in the past several years. No doubt many of the Occupy movement who feel hopelessly unemployed, other participants with jobs, and college graduates doubtful of employment understand the breakdown in ethics, values and equality of a crass capital-market of recent years.
A latest understanding of inequality exhibited during this period was by a group of North Carolina State University students, among others, who shouted down Wells Fargo CEO, John Stumpf. He came to lecture at NCSU's Poole College of Management. This group's protest to Stumpf: "We won't take your home," the protesters told him, "but we will take a minute of your time. Your leadership has led to the death of the American dream. Wells Fargo is guilty of widespread predatory lending and holds over 5.7 billion in student debt."
The forgoing referenced article reported that Forbes listed Stumpf's 2010 income at $18.9 million in salary, stocks and other compensation. Many people might consider this egregious for a leader who they believe should be participating in an austere-economic recovery; it's these overload rewards to top-echelon U. S. managers, which have continually exorbitantly increased over the past three decades, that incense much of the public. Maybe, especially in his case, because it came after Wells Fargo's takeover of Wachovia Bank which went bust on its acquisition of Golden West Financial, a predator subprime lender, for $25.5 billion. That brought enormous losses to Wachovia's stockholders - and a sweet deal for Wells Fargo, orchestrated by the Feds bailout.
Nicholas Kristof writes, "If you want to understand why the Occupy movement has found such traction, it helps to listen to a former banker like James Theckston." Theckston, "fully acknowledges that he and other bankers are mostly responsible for the country’s housing mess." He worked for Chase Home Finance. In explaining that epoch of errant banking, when subprime predatory loans earned commissions seven times a prime mortgage for some account executives, he said: “The bigwigs of the corporations knew this, but they figured we’re going to make billions out of it, so who cares? The government is going to bail us out. And the problem loans will be out of here, maybe even overseas.”
Thomas Friedman says, Citigroup's lethal news, overshadowed by the death of Qaddafi, deserved more attention because it "helps to explain why many average Americans have expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The news was that Citigroup had to pay a $285 million fine to settle a case in which, with one hand, Citibank sold a package of toxic mortgage-backed securities to unsuspecting customers — securities that it knew were likely to go bust — and, with the other hand, shorted the same securities — that is, bet millions of dollars that they would go bust." And if you needed more info on what motivates Occupy groups, listen to Steve Kroft last evening on 60 Minutes coverage of Countrywide, Citigroup, etc.
Nouriel Roubini, who long before 2008 predicted the economic catastrophe and understands anthropology in context of economics perhaps as well as anyone, says, "Any economic model that does not properly address inequality will eventually face a crisis of legitimacy. Unless the relative economic roles of the market and the state are rebalanced, the protests of 2011 will become more severe, with social and political instability eventually harming long-term economic growth and welfare."
All that being reality, we can't blame investment bankers for all unemployment and ills of America. Congress over last decades must share responsibility; as we go forth congress must be held accountable for policy that will be more conducive for American jobs. Thomas Friedman, co-author, in his book "That Used to Be Us" outlines four big imperatives for America's come back: how to adapt to globalization; adjust to the information technology (IT) revolution; cope with the large and soaring budget deficit; manage a world of both rising energy consumption and rising climate threats. In this video Friedman expands on some of this initiative (and here on The Power of Green) ---which, he says, must be addressed in a big way, if we are to regain our pace for economic growth and put more people to work.
This current congress, House and Senate, of which over half its membership are in the top 1% annual income ($516,000 up) shares in the failure to deal with the crucial issues of our nation that have left us with national challenges more complex and long-term as at no other time in our history. Indeed for many the American Dream, if not lost, is in serious jeopardy. And it's not that the Occupiers are lazy; being an activist takes courage, dedication and commitment beyond that of the most work-ethic-driven American employee.
"Americans have the fewest guaranteed vacation days and holidays of any major industrialized country. By law, workers in Britain are guaranteed at least four weeks’ paid vacation. The industrious Germans get the same—plus 10 paid holidays. The Japanese, famous for their work ethic, have a statutory minimum of two weeks’ paid vacation. We Americans: zero. There are no laws that guarantee us even a week’s paid vacation, nor even one paid holiday." "Americans work more weeks per year than any industrialized country except Japan. The average American works 46.7 weeks per year—eclipsing by far the Germans (41.7), the Brits (43.3), and the Canadians (44.8). The Swedes have a budget surplus and the best-performing bonds in Europe. They also work just 38.8 weeks per year."
While there are some slackers in every society and some outliers in Occupy and Tea Party types, America need not fear for its work force. Occupiers and the millions unemployed represented by them, given education and training, will exhibit unrelenting diligence. Americans choose to work; no laws needed ---except those that must shape economic policy for equality, entrepreneurship, innovation and Global competitiveness. Leveling the playing field of opportunity, the reordering of American jobs will put the U. S. back in its rightfully-earned position for sustainable economic growth.
No lazy bones here!

You Can't Not Support Israel - The Two-State-Partition Conundrum

Not surprisingly the recent politics of Israel's support has turned to nonsupport-demagoguery. Inconsequentially that may be, because there's no way in America, when pushed to the brink -- or not, Zionism will not win strong-political favor --- unless maybe you are (were) a George C. Marshall. Marshall was essentially apolitical and unswayed by politics.
Five Star General George C. Marshall, largely forgotten for a highly successful role as Secretary of Defense in wining WWII, his callback to service as Secretary of State and administering the "Marshall Plan" to save a war-torn Europe from Communist encroachment, remains lesser-known history by a younger generation.
Marshall was fully supportive and loyal to President Harry S. Truman; Truman held Marshall in highest esteem, a steadfast belief in his capabilities, always revered him with the honorable greeting even in the most informal settings: "General Marshall." Yet - in the end, Marshall and Truman differed on one of the most crucial, essential humanitarian, decisions made post WWII. A new nation, a resolution conceived in the aftermath of Hitler's genocidal extermination of 6 million Jews would become the most confounding dilemma for a peaceful existence between Israelis and Palestinians. Now 63-years and counting, a disappointment of every U. S. administration.
The latest Mideast sticky situation calculated: Obama's discerning request for Abbas to rescind Palestine's request from the U.N. Security Council for immediate full membership status. Efraim Halevy writes from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, "Unfortunately, the precedent for this type of overt pressure is not particularly encouraging, neither for Israel, nor for the United States. -------- It was in 2006 that President George W. Bush demanded that Hamas be allowed to participate in Palestinian general elections without it first having renounced the use of terrorism. It was an initiative that not only met resistance from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but also, in a rare meeting of minds, Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert. All of them eventually surrendered to the diktat of the U.S. President. The immediate result was that Hamas won the election; the long-term aftermath, of course, has yet to be resolved. There is currently no end in sight to the deadly confrontation between Hamas and Israel."
Could General George Marshall have presaged Israel's precarious future to be a state partitioned adjacent to an Arab settlement? In David McCulloch's Truman, the account of President Harry Truman's defining role leading up to the United Nation's approval of Israel's official homeland was one in which Truman apparently, reluctantly reached a conclusion --- contrary to General Marshall.
Palestine was not the sole concern of Harry Truman in February 1948; in Czechoslovakia a violent coup backed by a Red Army had imposed a Communist Government, and it was feared that Italy and France was headed for the same fate. He wrote daughter Margaret on March 3rd, Russia had kept none of its agreements. A dramatic turnaround from "postwar" to "eminent war" was the atmosphere at the time.
All the while, the Jewish pressure on the White House did not diminish even after the 1947-partition vote in the U. N., Truman wrote years later. Hundreds of thousands of postcards flooded the White House mail, nearly all from Jewish interest groups, largely as a result of the American Zionist Emergency Council; thirty-three state legislatures passed resolutions; forty governors and more than half congress signed petitions to the President favoring a Jewish State. Ed Flynn who had run Roosevelt's successful 1940 campaign came down from New York to inform Truman that his renomination for presidency that July, 1948, was in jeopardy if he did not "give in" on Palestine. Some were labeling Truman as anti-Semite.
Truman's patience was wearing thin: Chaim Weizmann, a scientist, to be the new Israeli president, who Truman had been a friend and liked very much, had now sailed from London to New York to meet with Truman. Truman refused to met with him; all efforts to meet with Thurman had failed. From the strain of events, Weizmann at 74-years of age, already in failing health, had taken ill and lay in bed at Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NY. On his behalf, 20th February, Frank Goldman, President of B'nai B'rith (Jewish international service organization) put through a call to Eddie Jacobson in Kansas City, getting him out of bed. As Goldman told Jacobson, no one could budge the President, so his help was needed.
Jacobson, a former clerk in a Kansas City clothing store, was selected by Lt. Harry Truman as a partner in WWI to make a service-canteen enterprise financially successful. By this Jewish boy, Eddie Jacobson, working for Harry in this successful endeavor, some of Harry's fellow officers started kidding him, calling him a "lucky Jew" and "Trumanheimer." Truman embraced the kidding in good spirit, their friendship only grew, and out of that association came their well-known joint-haberdashery business in Kansas City.
It was a prolonged, dogged exertion of Jacobson's efforts, culminating in Jacobson going unannounced to visit President Truman. (Truman was recalcitrant, felt abused and insulted by some of the American Jewish leaders.) Alone in the West Wing of the White House - after an impassioned speech by Jacobson: "Truman began drumming his fingers on the desk. He wheeled around in his chair and with his back to Jacobson sat looking out the window into the garden. For what to Jacobson seemed 'like centuries,' neither of them said anything. Then swinging about and looking Jacobson in the eye Truman said what Jacobson later described as the most enduring words he had ever heard: 'You win, you baldheaded son-of-a-bitch.' I will see him."
If not yet in concrete, at least, Jacobson's pre-die cast for Jewish homeland had been set, and Chaim Weizmann would be received to make his case. On March 18th, shortly after dark to avoid newsmen, Weizmann was ushered quietly into the White House by way of the East Wing to a 3/4 hour meeting with Truman that went well. Truman assured Weizmann that the United Sates would support partition. Whatever the turning tide, ... " for Truman unquestionably, humanitarian concerns mattered foremost."
General George Marshall, along with others, may have been right. In fact --- the divisive issue continued, "more and more in Washington threatening to divide the White house from the State Department, where it was strongly felt the Arabs would never accept partition except under force, and might very well turn to the Soviets for help ....." But what could Marshall's, and others', long-term resolve have been for millions of Jewish refugees without a homeland? Was Diaspora the better answer?
The Israeli/Arab adversity has continued over the years generating political groundswells of disdain and hate, rendering inept chances for cogent, reconcilable dialog. (Truman said, "The actions of the United States Zionist will eventually prejudice everyone against what they are trying to get done. I fear very much that the Jews are like all underdogs. When they get on top they are just as intolerant and as cruel as the people were to them when they were underneath.") Having given this politically-aggravated-disdain attributer for the environment in Israeli/Palestinian lands, there are those politically detached from the hardcore Zionist that politicians "pander to": those who have goodwill, willing to cooperate for real solutions.
Subsequent to President Jimmy Carter speaking at Brandeis University in 2007, in defense of his book, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, he challenged a group of students to go into old Palestine to assess the situation for themselves. Twelve students made the trip in 2008 and wrote their summations. (attached Brandeis-Palestine-Reports.pdf) One student said, "Have I really challenged myself to fully understand what it is like to be a person who is oppressed? --- If people care about the future of Israel, they have to care about the Palestinians; our fates are intertwined."
The challenges and frustrations for our leaders today in Palestine's "conflict resolution" are no less or more than it was in Truman's soul-searching, mindful partition-decision. Some of the current difficulties come from politics that inevitably default to Israel's favor. But somehow, it seems to me, a George Marshall apolitical-realm is where the Palestinian conflict might be solved. To rise above the politics is the real challenge; a conscientiousness that all people are created with inalienable rights, a love thy neighbor ethos has to be the healing climate.
No, I'm not forgetting the unconscionable nature of those who want to "fight Jews to death" and would give them no place to live on this earth. While there are those who will spout these despicable mantras, here again, it is widely vitriolic-political-forces that undermine social order, for political gain. More often it's not the politician's "overt word" but a "silence of denial," not taking responsibility to rebuke scurrilous messages. These actions/inaction acerbate unrest of the social climate. The politicians such as Ahmadinejad, and Netanyahu, who play to their extreme, libelous hard-core-prejudicial base to get elected, undermine their own credibility for rational diplomacy. One might say, "You don't understand politics." That's true, I don't but know if there are "politics in play for peace" it will have to born of ethical, moral values. We may be assured these are core issues that must be dealt with to negotiate sustainable peace in the Mideast.
President Harry Truman and General George Marshall were both right, even though they came to different decisions. To resolve the relationship of these "two opposing rights," Israel's entitlement to a peaceful homeland and Arab's acceptance of "partition under force" to be recognized an autonomous state, is the big question. The answer may be with a younger generation of Israelis and Palestinians -- given some years henceforth. Could that be more imminent, if negotiation can once again open? Will there begin an Arab Spring in Palestine? (To get a sense of a turning course, balance of Israeli/Palestinian influence, for the Mideast listen to Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey.)

The Tyranny of Defense, Inc. - Butter, Guns, and Bullets

In the Jan/Feb of TheAtlantic magazine, I read three great columns, one of which was the Tyranny of Defense Inc. After reading this timely article, I shared it with a few of my family and friends. Ken Cox who has an interesting military experience shared his views in response. An excerpt: “As stated in “The Tyranny of Defense”, the never ending cry, that we are in crisis and grave danger from this or that, has brought us to this point in our history. We are simply broken, economically and morally. Our ignorance and fear have allowed us to play right into the hands of Osama Bin Laden.” (Read his full response following my preface.)

In the Tyranny of Defense, Andrew Bacevich quotes President Dwight Eisenhower, in his warning of the buildup of a Corporate Military Complex: “Every gun that is made,” Eisenhower told his listeners, “every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Any nation that pours its treasure into the purchase of armaments is spending more than mere money. “It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.”
Bacevich: “Yet in Cold War Washington, Eisenhower’s was a voice crying in the wilderness. As much as they liked Ike, Americans had no intention of choosing between guns and butter: they wanted both. Military Keynesianism—the belief that the production of guns could underwrite an endless supply of butter—was enjoying its heyday.”

Henceforth, in this foreboding era we grapple (Or we should!) with a balance between reasoned, justifiable defense and extravagant-Keynesian defense. E.g., as reported by The Institute for Southern Studies: “The Egyptian government receives about $2 billion a year from the United States, with most of that assistance going to its military. Last year the U.S. sent about $1.3 billion to Egypt's military compared to about $250 million in economic aid, and the Obama administration requested similar amounts for the 2011 fiscal year, as Britain's Telegraph reports.” For this bighearted military support, the “corporate complex” of the U. S. of A. gets generous military contracts to supply Egypt’s military. We can’t unequivocally say all this is bad, but collectively, our own military and those many countries we give financial-military aid, is this the butter we want returned to our country as an equivalency in jobs and security for our nations and the world?

Inshallah! (if God wills) Egyptians will have freedom! In the Qur'an 13:11: “Verily God will not change the condition of a people until they change themselves.” Boy, have the Islamist taken control “for change” themselves? May it be an orderly transfer ensured by the Egyptian military for a secular democracy!

Subsequent to the original mailing of The Tyranny of Defense and after receiving a fiction-email-rumor which wrongfully stated President Obama’s appointee denounced a 13% pay raise for service persons --- I shared these items with three cousins, either of direct/indirect connection with military experience, which included Kenneth Cox. (You just about always know how these politically-motivated eRumors go! From TruthorFiction: Cindy Williams worked with the Clinton Administration during 1994 to 1997. In 2010 this eRumor returned with claims that Williams was assistant director in the Congressional Budget Office. The office was filled by David E. Mosher at the time of circulation. Her opinions about the military pay raises were published in the Washington Post (not the Washington Times) on January 12 of 2000. The article dealt with to what extent there was a gap in the wages of military personnel compared with civilians)

Read The Tyranny of Defense Inc. on online.

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Thus begins Ken’s writing, with some provocative comments and questions.

Cornell,

Hi. Hope you guys are doing well. Thanks for sending this to me........a few comments to follow. I hate to write, but sometimes it seems necessary. A few times in my life when I did take time to write, it helped make decisions that were necessary to make. At this time in my life, I am too old to take any action as I did in the past.....who know where this will go.......but after writing and keeping a, sort of, diary of what was going on in Southeast Asia when I was there........in the middle of the massive bombing campaign of Linebacker II during the bombing of North Vietnam over Dec 72-Jan 73.....I went to the personnel office at Takhli AFB and resigned my Regular Air Force Commission. It was clear to me that the United States was waging an immoral war.....and one that we were losing as well......killing more of them and more of us....and for what purpose?? Was it as the Eagles said in one of their songs......"we satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds in the name of destiny and in the name of God".........what has changed since then?? Probably very little. We were already well down this path of self destruction. Where do we really get the idea that it is our destiny to rule the world?? And do we really think that this is God’s wish for us?...... Our country really is in a mess. And for one who has always been extremely optimistic, it hurts me to say that I think we have gone too far to solve our problems. The future does look rather bleak. Have we been in a war since WWII that has really had a purpose other than to make money for the military industrial corporate complex?? Notice I added “corporate” to that phrase. I saw Ike’s daughter on television last year and she said that “corporate” was taken out of Ike’s speech for fear of upsetting the corporate folks…….. And is there any way to reign this spending in?? While adjusting and creating a fair and appropriate tax code??

Well, let me jump around a little……..I totally agree that we do not pay our soldiers in the trenches enough….theirs is the ultimate sacrifice. All through this country of ours, we are asking too much from the few while many contribute very little……taxes as well. However I want to look at our volunteer military. The military industrial corporate complex was very smart to do away with the draft. With the all voluntary military, the “complex” can keep sending these young men and women overseas, taking advantage of them, to fight our questionable battles without the apathetic citizenry protesting. For instance, the only person that I personally know that has gone to Iraq and Afghanistan is my nephew and he wanted to go. All the while, the higher echelon of the officer corps retires and moves into the “complex” and board rooms of the corporations perpetuating the growth of war. Within the last few weeks, there were several retired generals who left corporate jobs as “mentors” to the “complex” rather than to provide their annual salaries.
As stated in “The Tyranny of Defense”, the never ending cry, that we are in crisis and grave danger from this or that, has brought us to this point in our history. We are simply broken, economically and morally. Our ignorance and fear have allowed us to play right into the hands of Osama Bin Laden. He did not have the military means to defeat us; but he has the intelligence to bait our political leaders who are in bed with the “complex” to wage unnecessary wars which we can neither afford nor win. We will eventually collapse, maybe sooner than later, by continuing these wars. I love the bumper sticker that says something to the effect of: It will be a great day when we have enough money for education and the military will have a bake sale for a bomber. We do not even educate our people so that our citizenry is knowledgeable enough to ride herd on our government and the “complex”. Now, speaking out of the other side of my mouth…….I do believe that we need a strong defense…..to defend our country…..but not to maintain a standing army in every country in the world that we have ever visited or had reason to deploy…….can we never bring any of these troops home?? WWII did help us get out of the Great Depression. But it was a temporary gift! The continuation of the massive buildup of the “complex” and massive war machine worldwide……and since 911……the massive buildup of the security-state apparatus…..all these things have left us bankrupt. As stated in “The Tyranny of Defense”, our military, security/intelligence and homeland security amounts to over 800 billion a year. China’s is in the neighborhood of 80 billion a year. Not only can we not win these wars, but we cannot afford these wars. Where is the public citizenry outcry?? What wars have we fought without paying for them as we go with bonds and taxes? Our government and our “complex” is spending money foolishly and cutting taxes…….making the rich more wealthy, ultimately on the backs of the middle class and poor. There is no doubt that the “complex” has stolen the heart, sole, and prosperity from the American people and is in the process of destroying the American Dream for many of our citizens. They are heartless and simply do not care about the American people. That is why Obama won the 2008 election. The people saw in him hope that our great country could provide education and health care for our citizens, that we could reinvest in our infrastructure, that we could end the unnecessary wars, that we could create a fair tax structure, and that we could begin to create an energy program……..that we could really be a great country. Yet, once elected we see that the “complex” is bigger than even our president. His hands are largely tied, I believe, and our empire of war and debt lumber on with no hope of cessation. No wonder people in the Arab world look upon us and our hypocrisy with such disdain. So do I.
And quite frankly, with the turmoil in Egypt……maybe the best way to fight is in the social media rather than with guns and bombs. How long before we have such here in our streets? Our leaders are not doing a good job. How we make them work for us is beyond me at this time. Anyway, enough rambling and enough questions……without solutions…….it’s bed time……….and thanks for including me. The Tyranny of Defense is fabulous.
Thanks,
Ken