“The only thing necessary for evil to flourish is for good men (and women) to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)

“Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.” (Herman Goering)

Chris: The Edmund Burke quotation is one of my favorites also. I wrote two posts centered around it that you might find interesting, Evil Triumphs When Good People Do Nothing and Become A Force For Good.

Alex

One of the problems, at least with the U.S., is that going to war is now the decision of one person—the President. The Constitution requires the advise and consent of the Congress in the decision to wage war a la FDR’s “Day of Infamy” speech after Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately the Founders didn’t foresee the concept of “limited war” and the system of checks and balances so brilliantly conceived by them has been circumvented with the tacit agreement of the Judicial and Legislative parts of the Government. This failure to act by Congress and the Courts is partly due to the nature of the issues, as well as deliberate deception by the Executive Branch to manufacture reasons for “limited war” like Vietnam and Iraq II. At least the U.S. penchant for “police actions” and such would be much more difficult to get into if we stuck with the process the Constitution requires, including formal declarations of war.

Perhaps one way we can get the U.S. out of the war business is to hold our elected officials to the fire and make them do their jobs.

Not all nations have the ability to make going to war a very deliberative process. But, to have that ability, then choose to not use it, is a far greater sin and makes the U.S. all the more hypocritical.