[R-G] A Guest Article to freely share and publish;

[Soyawax at aol.com]

A Guest Article to freely share and publish;
 
  
 
  
  
Connecting the Dots;  The  Pervasive Economic Infrastructure of War
 
I applaud the efforts of  individuals and organizations in our community that 
are taking a  courageous stand against international war and the  domestic 
destruction of civil liberties in our present political  milieu.  Marching, 
candlelight vigils, and public demonstrations to  support our troops by removing 
them from harm's way can be a first step,  but without also working on deep 
systemic change, such  efforts will prove to be fruitless on their own.  After 
each major war  ends, most marchers go home and the economic infrastructure's 
march to the  very next war continues unabated.  This will only change by 
changing the  pervasive economic infrastructure of war and  militarism.
 
It is important for all of us to do  two things;  


 

1.
to educate ourselves and each other about the economic  realities that have 
fostered war during all of recorded human history.  Every war is a resource war 
from a drug turf war in a ghetto to an oil grabbing  global Armageddon.   
 
2. to "opt out" of  the pervasive economic structures of war and "Empire" . 
We can start  in our own communities to create alternative sustainable life  
support systems that we will build in place of Empire and the  
military-industrial/petro-chemical complex. 
 
We have the opportunity to be the  first generation of civilized human 
beings. To claim that our present society  that's based on violence and war is 
anything less than savage is  a mass denial of reality.
 
To make systemic change is not  easy.  It took the human species ten thousand 
years to get  to our present dead-end quagmire of endless war and Empire  
building   It will take one generation to turn around and go  in a new direction. 
The word revolution simply means "turn around".  We must realize that the 
present structures of Empire that operate the  "military-industrial complex" have 
been built up progressively by Western  Civilization over the last ten 
thousand years.   What  we now call "national defense" is actually making our world 
much more  dangerous and unstable. As a result, our homeland is insecure.  
Intelligent methods of non-violent conflict resolution are a  necessity to build 
a sane, stable and sustainable society. War must become  obsolete for the 
human race to avoid becoming obsolete on this  planet.
 
Our long march to our  present stage in Human History of climate chaos, 
global war, resource  depletion and environmental degradation has literally been a 
ten thousand year  journey.  We are now at the crossroads;  do you want your 
children and  grandchildren to survive?  If so, then you must commit to 
dramatic  systemic change during our present generation.  We have 20  years to 
activate a global paradigm shift to a sustainable society.    With global climate 
crisis on the horizon there are no second chances this  time.  This is the 
moment of truth in the human  drama.
 
At this stage, the USA sits at the  Pinnacle of Empire.  More than 60% of our 
public funds go to support  the economic war machine.   We must realize how 
pervasive the economic  structures of the military industrial complex have 
become in every city and  state.  Here in my home town of Cedar Rapids, Iowa the  
single largest employer, Rockwell Collins is hard wired into the military  
industrial complex.  A huge portion, if not the majority of Rockwell  Collins 
contract work is for military purposes. The other Rockwell  contracts are for the 
commercial airline industry, an industry with one  of the single largest 
carbon footprints on earth. 
 
You cannot say that you are against  war and global climate chaos without 
connecting the dots to see how those  dots trace a path right to our own front 
door in our own home towns. This  is in no way to point the finger at a company 
such as Rockwell... they are only  one single participant in the 10,000 year 
march of the history of  Empire that every one in Western Civilization has been 
engaged in.   In the USA where each one of us consumes 32 times the energy 
and  resources as the average citizens in the world, we are all equally  
responsible for the dead end we now face with global warming and  resource depletion.
 
I only cite the example of Rockwell  Collins, because as the largest employer 
in my home city, it  perfectly illustrates the pervasive economic 
infrastructure of war, militarism  and empire building. During a  paradigm shift, we must 
all realize;  "God forgive us, for we know not  what we do."  In a time of 
paradigm shift, what seemed right  before can be totally wrong now, as we must 
face the  need for radical change.  The stockholders, management and staff of  
companies such as Rockwell Collins want their children and grandchildren to  
survive just as much as the rest of us.  In fact, companies that have the  
intellectual and human capital such as Rockwell Collins can retool to provide  the 
knowledge and capacity to build the sustainable systems of a new  "Post 
Empire" culture.   We have one generation to create a  post-Empire, new sustainable 
economy.
 
Even Iowa agriculture has become  one more appendage of the 
Military/Industrial Complex.   
The  agricultural research legacy of Iowan Henry Wallace of  Pioneer is now 
owned by Du Pont Corporation of Delaware that has  the history of Vietnam 
napalm and a century of war profiteering to its credit.  The agricultural know how  
and legacy of the Holden family of Williamsburg, Iowa is now owned by  
Monsanto of St. Louis that gave the world environmental disasters such as Agent  
Orange, DDT, Bovine Growth Hormones, GMO’s and PCB’s. Cargill  started in Iowa, 
but now controls a massive global reach from  Minnesota.  ADM is a huge 
Illinois  company.  Quaker Oats is owned by  Pepsi of New York.  Iowans are  tossed 
a few bones as crop sales, salaries and local operating expenses, while  the 
big guys haul the big bucks out of Iowa.  

 
Agriculture has become very  consolidated.  The majority of economic control 
of Iowa Ag  is vested with a few multi-national Empire builders that  are 
headquartered outside of Iowa.  Profits are  deposited in East Coast banks, not in 
locally owned Iowa institutions. This  seriously drains Iowa capital.  Out of 
state companies are  subsidized with your tax dollars.  You are paying  
twice; with skyrocketing prices for food and energy and with your hard  earned tax 
dollars.  Each bioregion must re-localize our  economy. 
We have one generation to create a  post-Empire, sustainable agriculture 
before we destroy our own land and water  base. Not one single "empire" has 
survived in human history. Many collapse  as they destroy their own ecosystems. 
Iowans must evaluate the direction our agriculture is headed. Soil and  water is 
damaged as we export the majority of agricultural value out of  state.  
Economics is simply the exchange of energy. With a cost of 10  petro-chemical 
calories to net 1 calorie of food energy, Iowa agriculture  is totally  unsustainable.
Since  our agriculture is controlled by out of state empire builders, as  we 
evaluate the total structure of Iowa Agricultural Economics, as a  collective 
citizenry, Iowans are now relegated to a powerless "tenant  farmer" status in 
our own home state.  A vital democracy only works  when active citizens 
control access to their own food, energy and  resources. Iowa  needs intelligent 
economic  development way beyond petroleum, pigs, prisons and  poker!   A reality 
based economic science must include the long  term environmental and social 
costs of any economic activity.  Local  farmers can best protect our land as 
they now wake up and reclaim control  of Iowa agriculture. 
The  Leopold Center at ISU, Practical Farmers of Iowa and Iowa Network  for 
Community Agriculture  are bringing Iowa’s ag economy back home. A  shift to 
local food production will capture the $4 billion dollars that Iowans  spend to 
purchase food from out of state each year.   This  economic shift should now 
be our #1  objective for state economic development.  An economy based on local 
self-reliance  can ride the waves of global change that are now hitting our 
economy hard.  Act now while you still  can. 
The issues  of political self-determination, peace, social justice, global 
warming  and the environment all connect within one whole system in a 
sustainable  economy.  Our present linear/industrial economic model is the  causal root 
of deep-seated systemic economic and  environmental problems. All ecological 
systems become  healthier with increasing diversity.  Iowa agriculture now 
depletes  diversity. Solutions will be provided by working together as  an 
intelligent community to build reality based ecological-economic  structures.  
Ecology and economy share the same root  word; Eco simply means "home". Ecology  is 
the study of our home environment.  Economics, is about managing  the 
resources of our "home".  Our shared home is planet  Earth.  There is only one living 
biosphere. 
 
Author  Kurt Vonnegut suggested that we all "improve out own small corner of 
the  universe." In our small neighborhood;  Oakhill/New Bohemia in Cedar  
Rapids we are taking steps to build an urban sustainable village. Obesity  and 
diabetes from commodity based, processed food results in billions of dollars  of 
disease care costs that hit low income people hardest.  Instead of  handing 
out USDA commodity foods to low  income families, were distributing fresh 
produce and seeds and teaching families  how to grow real food in the our 
neighborhood in the central core/lowest income  area of Cedar Rapids.  This type of 
effort can take place in any  community.  I invite you to join in with this timely 
work.   Building the  paradigm of a sustainable global society begins in each 
of our own  backyards. 

“guest  column” submitted  by;   Michael Richards, 1029 Third St.S.E. Cedar 
Rapids 52401 
Richards  is the founder of Sustainable Ecological Economic Development 
(S.E.E.D.) He  serves as the President of the Oakhill Jackson Neigborhood ASSN. 
Richards is the  inventor of soy wax replacements for petroleum wax and is 
President of Soyawax  International. His book, SUSTAINABLE OPERATING SYSTEMS/The 
Post Petrol Paradigm, published in  2007 is available at Amazon.  Contact 
#319-213-2051, or e mail at: Postpetrol @ aol.com 


















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