A Christmas Lament December 2004

A Christmas Lament

December 2004

I’m not writing a Christmas Letter this year as I have since 1979. Such a letter should be filled with optimism and good cheer. I just can’t pretend that is how I see the world at this time. So this is a Letter in Lieu of a Christmas Letter.

Ever since I went to Europe in 1949 and saw the destruction of the Second World War I have realized that war is not what the propaganda purports it to be. Old ego driven men vie for power and dominance by having young men kill each other. Those naive young men are told they are heroes. While there may never have been a just war there have been necessary wars. WW2 was such a war. It could have been avoided but once the Nazis had started their mass murder they had to be stopped. However, our present war has no redeeming reason to be. My country has abandoned the very principles it proclaims and that made it the envy of the world. Like the Nazis the American people supported the instigation of the Iraqi War. Like the Nazis we invaded a sovereign nation. Like the Nazis we kill civilians in cities. The Nazis called their tactics Blitz-Krieg. We call our tactics Shock and Awe. Like the Nazis we are the occupying army and are hated by the occupied nation. Ask yourself it was honorable for the German people to support their invading troops. After all, each German soldier had “Gott mit uns” (God with us) on his belt buckle giving him moral authority. Is it honorable for the American people to support their invading troops because their president proclaims that he is directed by God? How can such evil actions be called honorable just by calling them “moral values”? The killing is just as tragic. The German people were suffering greatly from uncontrolled inflation and unemployment before the war preparations improved their economy. The American people enjoyed one of the highest standards of living the world has ever known before we started our Iraqi War. America has not instituted genocide against the Moslems as the Nazis did against the Jews although many Americans believe Moslems are evil. I see too many unethical similarities between the tragedy of World War 2 and our present war. I believe our invasion of Iraq is irrational, illegal and immoral. It is this distressful immorality that dissuades me from writing a Christmas Letter.

With the borrow and spend, spend, spend philosophy of the Bush Administration I expect to see the Euro become the dominant monetary unit with a value of over three dollars for one Euro. It appears that many people expect the dollar to lose much of its value since our personal debt is very high and still rising. Buy now and pay latter with cheaper dollars. I long for the good old days of tax and spend and a robust economy based on a pay as you go principle. Sorry grand children, I don’t have a large enough fortune to leave you an inheritance to pay for the debt my generation is leaving you.