On the military

Wouldn't it be lovely
if there was world peace

and if I didn't make a rolling stop
and forget to count the morning donut
and swear at the driver who cut me off
and sneak a gander at her cleavage
and forget to put the cash gift on my taxes
and lie that I was sick and had to stay home
and pretend to admire her new hair style
and forget to mention that he's a real ass
and access the porn site
and steal a ballpoint from the bank
and exaggerate my credentials
and pretend everything is really great

wouldn't it be lovely
if there was world peace

Listen to it.

Watching the Navy "march on" several hours before the kickoff (carried live on a cable channel), I was reminded of this poem of mine -- and also of how odd it often felt to be one of the few pro-military progressives at some political gathering or other. Most of my liberal friends hated the military. They didn't quite trust me because I didn't.

But I believe what it boils down to is this: I have a darker view of humanity than they do.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”             --James Madison

So with a military force. Of course, the purpose is defensive and we have abused our military by using it aggressively to build empire. But this is not the military's fault but the fault of the framers of policy for its use. Liberals tend to under-appreciate the testimony of those like Solzhenitsyn, who document the terrors under tyranny and the necessity of military protection. But those with such experience often go too far the other way, restricting liberties beyond the values of a free people. None of these issues are black and white, despite what the Tea Party says. Yet I agree with the Tea Party in one respect: government is not the solution to "becoming free." I tend to agree with Norman Brown that governments, groups, by nature become corrupt to one degree or another, power itself corrupts, and "salvation" is individually achieved, usually by "dropping out" to a certain degree.

Those governments are best, therefore, which permit the greatest wiggle room for dropping out. If I made the decisions, there would be no obscenely wealthy folks and everyone, by reason of mere citizenship, would be given a basic minimum sustenance to permit dropping out. That is, if you want to be a starving artist, you can be one. I would promote starving artists over successful entrepreneurs. Art would not be sold. It would just be done and given away.

Crazy, I know. I didn't say it was practical.

The closest approximation to this in the society we have is my great idea of an artist lottery: that is, art grants and support would be determined not by applications and panels of judges but by a drawing, a lottery. Luck of the draw! Makes much more sense and it would support artists much more realistically, getting them out of the politics of arts administration. I've received grants, lived on them through much of the 1980s, and I've been a judge giving them out. I know how it works. A lottery is much better for everyone except arts administrators, who would lose their jobs.

All these thoughts surround the Army-Navy game build up today. On a personal note, my family would have been delighted if I had chosen to go to the Naval Academy. What better destiny for a bright Navy brat? Yet I was never pressured in this direction. The matter only came up once, when dad reminded me that the application process was much longer than for a regular college, so if I was interested, I should act soon. I didn't. I wanted to go to Cal Tech -- where I was accepted. Two years later I had transferred to Cal Berkeley and shortly thereafter joined the military -- not the Navy but the Army. Life takes funny turns.

So the blackeyed peas are simmering on the stove. The game doesn't begin until noon. I should read two scripts at hand but probably will delay them until tomorrow.