"Governments are not real. Rice is real."

From Senator Jim Webb's semi-autobiographical Vietnam War novel, "Fields of Fire".   The words of a local farmer who was forced to fight for the VC, quit, and then had his family murdered by the VC.  He started working for the Americans, but remained deeply opposed to both sides.  He needed to eat, and the Marines had food.

"God and War" book review

We try to keep our promises around here, so were able to attain a copy of Professor Raymond Haberski's excellent book God and War:  American Civil Religion Since 1945 though Indiana Interlibray Loan (this copy came from his old stomping grounds, Marian University).

http://veteransforpeaceindianapolis.blogspot.com/2017/02/americas-nationalist-religion.html

The title says much, but here are a few things that struck us.  President Carter was the most pro-peace president of recent vintage; for instance, he seems to have understood that money used to build better nukes could better be used building schools.  Haberski said this about Carter:  "A gut-level explanation for his failure suggests that Americans don't like to face unpleasant truths about themselves and their nation, but they do like to traffic in grand illusions that, at times, get them mired in tragedies like Vietnam."

Quoting historian Michael Sherry, regarding the Panama invasion:  "It presumed that Americans found purpose only in war, that their state functioned effectively in a warlike mode, and that the nation knew triumph only in warfare, with World War II still their model in that regard."   Hence, "wars" on drugs, AIDS, cancer, obesity ...

Finally, reading the actual words of Rev. Jeremiah Wright of President Obama fame/infamy in this book may help some that are blind see the light, just like this excellent book does.  Those of us that are prayerful can pray that many other Americans' eyes are opened, which this book helps do.

Here is Dr. Haberski's page at IUPUI:

https://liberalarts.iupui.edu/directory/bio/haberski