Bacon, Guns & Whiskey

America’s last legal war ended in 1945 and the entire country—from the time the time the Senate voted unanimously on December 8, 1941 until Japan’s surrender on September 2, 1945—was mobilized for the war effort.

The cases belli (’cause for war’ or ‘case for war’,’ depending on who you ask) was unequivocal; Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, the US had been avoiding the ‘European problem’ for years, and Germany’s invasions of neighboring countries as the beginning of a continental domination strategy were unmistakable. After Pearl Harbor, we couldn’t stay on the sidelines any longer, and we could not let an unprovoked attack go unanswered.

Fast forward to today. We’ve attacked a sovereign nation and kidnapped their leader (Venezuela), have launched a war against another (Iran), and have told a third that they are next (Cuba). Why??

Venezuela you can argue may or may not be a state sponsor of narcotics, but what about Iran? They might one day have nukes? North Korea has nukes and is working to build a missile that can hit the us. Yet the fat friar in charge in North Korea is continuing to build nukes that actually do threaten the US. And what about Cuba? They’re commies, yep. But how have all of our wars against the commies gone? Horribly and a lot of dead Americans for no reason. Korea humiliated the US after WW2, Vietnam humiliated the US after that, and the Soviet Union collapsed not because the US won but rather because communism is inherently doomed to fail. Now we want to try again?

So the last time the US a) fought a war against a large and equivalent enemy and b) fought a war legally as the Founders prescribed, we crushed the enemy and did so because of a moral imperative —we defended those who were seeking to crush and conquer the weak and eliminate an entire class of people simply because of their religion.

Since then, we’ve found smaller countries where we have overwhelming force. And yet we were beaten in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. I’m leaving out Grenada and Panama because of the size of those countries but, in all fairness, we did win those conflicts (and we brought Manuel Noriega for trial).

Could the US win a major war today? Say, with China who is—actually—the biggest threat to global peace and security since WW2? As I look at my shadow box, it kills me to type the words, but I do not think the United States could win WW2 if it were fought today, and I don’t think we have a hope against China.

Before you grab your pitchfork and torch, you need to understand why. In WW2, private industry stepped up to build everything from bombs to tanks, housewives went to work in factories while their husbands deployed, and they did it because of patriotic duty, not to get rich.

Today, everyone knows that a defense contract is the single best thing for shareholders in a company. Why? Because they never finish on time and always, ALWAYS go over budget. The MQ-9 Reaper costs $56.5 million EACH. The third world military of Iran shot one down.

F-15 Strike Eagles are the jets that used to make the world tremble. The third world military of Iran shot one of those down, too.

The Sig Sauer M18 pistol contract was close to $600 million when it was awarded. They are shooting soldiers after firing without the trigger being pulled and, in some cases, while they are holstered. Sig made a huge amount of money, our troops are paying for it. And this is just the most recent example—there are a bunch more out there.

As fumble through our folly in Iran, our weapons stockpiles are low or are critically low (depending on who you talk to)—and you know what that means: more government contracts! How much do you want to bet that we suddenly have to start building the “Next Generation __” this year? Yeah, I wouldn’t risk your money on that bet, either.