"It is in war that the State really comes into its own: swelling in power, in number, in pride, in absolute dominion over the economy and the society. Society becomes a herd, seeking to kill its alleged enemies, rooting out and suppressing all dissent from the official war effort, happily betraying truth for the supposed public interest."
He goes on to say that the idea that war is the State defending its subjects is a myth. War is the State using its subjects to fight for it against other States.
Truth #2: War is a racket. It always has been.
USMC Major General Smedley D. Butler (the most decorated Marine ever at the time of his death) explains:
"[War] is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives."
"A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes."
He goes on to make the case here.
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Anyway, Edwin Starr was 100% correct in answering the question "War, what is it good for?": Absolutely nothing! (Unless you are the State or part of the Military Industrial Complex.)
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