From:
John Pietaro <leftmus@earthlink.net>Date: Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 4:51 PM
Subject: The futility of war, as explained by Phil Ochs
To: "
leftmus@earthlink.net" <
leftmus@earthlink.net>
Sisters and Brothers,
Last night, like most of you, I watched as the president I'd worked hard to elect spoke out in West Point and loaded guns into the arms of future military recruits. This president who was honored with a Nobel Peace Prize, who'd served the people as a community organizer, who stood in union halls and told workers that they mattered, THAT president last night spoke words that could have come from Truman, Johnson, even Reagan (not Bush; this at least was eloquent) and drove us deep into war-mode.
Friends, we knew that he was going to focus on Afghanastan but that was before the numbers of the unemployed had climbed so high, when we thought we'd have universal healthcare and an Employee Free Choice Act. We thought he'd have the troops in Iraq home before this. Faced with the alternative of McCain-Palin, one can only imagine the state our nation would be in had that scenario played out....yet we cannot stand by as promises--not only campaign promises but the promises of a new day and outlook--are broken. There is NO military answer. As we have before in times of a liberal-leaning Democratic officials, we need to let President Obama know that his base is good and pissed off right now. As the quagmire-to-be thickens with crushing heartache, I am reminded of the lyrics of a Vietnam-era Phil Ochs song which spoke of the futility of war:
"One More Parade" by Phil Ochs
Hup, two, three, four, marching down the street
Rolling of the drums and the tramplin' of the feet
Generals salute and mothers wave and weep,
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid
Price is paid
One more parade
So young, so strong, so ready for the war
So willing to die upon a foreign shore
All march together, everybody looks the same
So there is no one you can blame
Don't be ashamed
Light the flame
One more parade
Listen for the sound and listen for the noise
Listen for the thunder of the marching boys
A few years ago their guns were only toys
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid
Price is paid
One more parade
So young, so strong, so ready for the war
So willing to die upon a foreign shore
All march together, everybody looks the same
So there is no one you can blame
Don't be ashamed
Light the flame
One more parade
Medals on their coats and guns in their hands
Trained to kill as they're trained to stand
10,000 ears need only one command
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid
Price is paid
One more parade
So young, so strong, so ready for the war
So willing to die upon a foreign shore
All march together, everybody looks the same
So there is no one you can blame
Don't be ashamed
Light the flame
One more parade
Cold hard stares on faces so proud,
Kisses from the girls and cheers from the crowd
And the widows from the last war cry into their shroud
Here comes the big parade
Don't be afraid
Price is paid
Don't be ashamed
War is a game
World in flames
So start the parade
-------------The futility of war continues to haunt the decisions of our leaders, even those who should know better. An excellent piece on this was published in today's edition of 'the People's World', written by that paper's editorial board. It, along with Ochs' lyric, says more about this issue than I ever could:
http://www.peoplesworld.org/jobs-not-bombs/In Solidarity,
John Pietaro - www.flamesofdiscontent.org
