What if all wars ended November 13, 2017?
More on that later.
Our new Emperor just brokered a 110-billion-dollar arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
No way this can end well. It’s like dousing nitroglycerine into a raging inferno.
Since our new Emperor assumed office, the word “nuclear” has been bandied about way too frequently. During the Reagan years, the United States and Russia possessed enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world 67 times. It appears this administration would like to reenact the Cold War, maybe bump our nuclear arsenal to triple figures.
Destroy the world 67 times over? I’m thinking, let’s get this down to single digits.
If you destroy the world once, isn’t another 66 times a bit redundant?
Here’s the thing: I believe our new Emperor is hell-bent on waging war. I believe that he thinks war can salvage his poll numbers, and perhaps jumpstart the middle-class economy. His childlike insecurity motivates him to act tough.
We don’t have to accept this scenario. We can write our own script; be proactive. At the end of the day, we have more power than our leaders, more power than our new Emperor. We just need to seize it.
So, in honor of my late father’s birthday, I hereby declare that all wars will end on November 13th, 2017. Any wars being waged that day will be declared a tie, with all soldiers free to return to their families.
Yes, November 13th, wars will end.
We can decide this.
We can do this.
November 13th, wars will end.
Ain’t nothing more powerful than an idea. An idea can diffuse and dismantle force when it appeals to our humanity, our collective souls, and the innate goodness that resides in all of us. The Berlin Wall was dismantled not through force but through the idea of freedom. No shots were fired; people just exerted their power, insisting on freedom.
And ain’t nothing more powerful than the idea of peace.
In 1960, President Eisenhower warned the nation about the proliferation of the Military Industrial Complex. His prophesy has borne fruit. This insatiable beast needs to be fed, and it can only be nourished by conflict, carnage, body counts, and huge purchase orders for instruments of death — purchase orders that generate millions of jobs, mountains of cash, and multigenerational fortunes. This structure is hot-wired to sabotage peace.
Eisenhower said this: “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
So, the beast must be confronted because it serves to divide us and promotes the propaganda that we are not connected, that there is no commonality between our collective souls.
And we only have till November 13th. As Eisenhower warned, our economic underpinnings became more and more dependent on the Military Industrial Complex, and this dependency has evolved into a full-borne addiction. Too many jobs, payrolls, and fortunes are dependent on this machine. The question becomes: how does the world put down the crack pipe? Look how hard it was to outlaw slavery. There was an economic addiction to slavery, which resisted it from being vanquished, and despite the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, we are still infected by that virus: i.e., the Prison Industrial Complex, which has evolved because there is still money to be made through the incarceration of the powerless. By ending wars on November 13th, we can begin to dismantle this demonic structure.
We can decide this.
We can do this.
November 13th, 2017, wars end.
Get the word out.
Now, don’t think for a moment the Military Industrial Complex will quietly fold and go gently in the night. Payrolls, livelihoods, and economies are sustained by this structure. People don’t voluntarily surrender their golden goose.
But we can do this because the idea of peace is more powerful than any force. History has taught us that lesson.
War ends November 13, 2017
Now, there are a few contingencies/housekeeping chores to be taken care of before we execute our mission.
- If a nation’s leaders insist on engaging in combat after November 13th, a fighting match would be staged between the two leaders of the warring factions, a battle royal if you will, the winner of the fight claiming victory for their nation. Perhaps it could even be a cage-match. Think of the pay preview killing that could be made, the proceeds going to support the peace efforts. (This all may come down to a fight between our Emperor and the Emperor of North Korea. They both have small hands, so it should be a very even fight.)
- After November 13th, the munitions industry will experience massive layoffs. We as a nation need to hire and train these laid-off workers. These are good, hardworking people, the soul of America. Like all parents, they labor to support their families and put food on the table. They will never allow their kids to go hungry and will work in a munitions factory if that’s the only choice they have. We will need industrialists to step up and hire people effected by the new peace economy. And why should they do this: it’s the patriotic thing to do. We are Americans; we take care of our own. Even if you don’t need them or can’t afford them, be a job creator and find work for these laid-off workers — it will pay off in the end. We need to have a peacetime economy where the unemployment rate is 3 %. We can do this. We have some of the most brilliant economic minds in the world; surely, we can figure how to create a thriving, viable economy not based on carnage. And please, be more creative than constructing a casino. Do it as a favor to me.
- We need to get the word out: a. Ads, both TV and radio, “War ends, November 13th.
b. We need huge billboards all over the world declaring: “War ends, November 13th”. Time Square should be blanketed by electronic billboards declaring “War ends, November 13”. And we should have a countdown clock in Times Square so warring nations know how long fighting will be permitted.
c. We need a massive postcard, and mailing campaigns declaring: “War ends, November 13th”
d. We need massive email blitzes, Facebook posts, massive sharing, and Twitter feeds declaring “War ends, November 13th”.
e. We can start selling tee shirts labeled “War ends, November 13th”, the proceeds going to programs that help train laid-off workers in new, employable skills. We must take care of these laid-off workers. Jobs are the key to this whole thing.
- A lot of soldiers will be entering the peacetime economy. Business owners need to step up and hire these veterans. There’s no better employee than a veteran. I know from experience.
- We need massive dumpsters hauled out to battlefields where soldiers can deposit their weapons on November 13th. (This could create a whole new industry-weapons recycling.)
- Teams of mediators need to leave immediately for areas of conflict with the express purpose of diffusing combatants, thereby achieving our November 13th deadline.
- Let’s get athletes involved: have athletes refuse to play any games until all wars have ended.
- Get celebrities to spread the word: “War ends, November 13th, 2017”. Have it be the talk of the town.
- At Tupperware parties, people can say: “Did you hear? All war ends November 13th.”
- At weddings, funerals, and tailgate parties, the topic of conversation should be: “War ends, November 13th.”
November 13th — it’s gonna be great!
This is crazy, right?
We can do this.
What if war was declared and nobody came?
Yes!
Let’s end this with a quote from Mr. Rogers-yeah, the guy with the sweater. All Facebook posts should end with a Mr. Rogers quote:
“Our world hangs like a magnificent jewel in the vastness of space. Every one of us is a facet of that jewel. And in the perspective of infinity, our differences are infinitesimal. We are all intimately related. May we never even pretend that we are not.”
Curt
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