Charles Mercieca - IAEWP




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What the United States Presidential Candidates Have in Common

Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President
International Association of Educators for World Peace
NGO, United Nations (ECOSOC) UNDPI, UNICEF, UNCED & UNESCO
Professor of History and Philosophy
Alabama A&M University

Regardless of the political party they claim to represent -- Democrat, Republican, or Reform --, the United States presidential candidates have one thing in common. They are totally out of touch with the needs of the American people and the problems of the world at large in terms of focus and needs. This means, that none of such candidates is equipped with a vision as to see things into true perspective and to provide the nation and the world with the kind of leadership needed to bring about a permanent world peace.

Distorted Concept of Priorities

To make things worse, they all reveal to have a distorted concept of priorities in terms of human needs, especially as they relate to the real defense and security of human life itself. Besides, none of them seems capable of speaking his or her own mind. In order for such presidential candidates to receive millions of dollars to finance their campaign, they are forced to play by the rules of the big industries headed by the weapons industrial complex.

This explains, for example, why the Republican presidential candidates, in particular, continue to stress the need for allotting more billions and billions of dollars to construct new weaponry systems. The gimmick they have used over the years to hypnotize the American people has now become a total cliche. I am referring the the magic phrase: national defense and national security, which the weapons industrial complex dubbed into the mouth of presidential candidates over the past 50 years or so since World War II was over.

Like the Center for Defense Information in Washington D.C. well pointed out in its literature and videotapes, when American politicians speak of national defense and security, they are not speaking of the national defense and security of the American people, but of the financial interests, in terms of profit, of the weapons industrial complex. This industry controls ruthlessly under its thumb the vast majority of American politicians including all of the US presidential candidates.

This explains why there is not one presidential candidate who advocates drastic cuts in the continued building of new weapons and the closing of most American bases in the nation but especially overseas. It explains why not one presidential candidate condemns seriously the proliferation of weapons which are being sold to virtually every single country on earth, friends and enemies alike, for the right price.

Equipping the World With Lethal Weapons

We may understand why not one presidential candidate advocates that the United States should provide the nations of Africa, Latin America, South East Asia and the Middle East not with weapons any longer but, instead, with food, computers, medicine, prefabricated homes for the poor and the homeless, and all modern means of technology for their hospitals and educational institutions. The weapons industrial complex, which keeps such candidates under its ruthless thumb, would never allow them, even remotely, to bring such vital ideas into the open. If that were to happen, agents of such a demonic industry will soon start resorting to inserting fear in the mind of the American people with such embarrassing and foolish statements as:

1) North Korea is developing a nuclear capability and we have to be prepared to wage a nuclear war against it, when the United States has already over 50,000 nuclear weapons compared to North Korea which does not possess any!

2) Fidel Castro still remains a threat to the United States and the embargo against Cuba must continue! Ironically, Cuba never killed any American while Vietnam, which now became our friend, has killed 58,000 American soldiers!

3) Gaddafi of Libya still remains a dangerous man in harboring terrorists and in jeopardizing the security and national defense of the United States. Even if one were to be an imbecile, it's hard to imagine this scenario!

4) Countries like China may one day threaten the United States. If that were to be the case, why is it that the United States keeps on selling to China all the military equipment it wants as long as it pays the right price?

Like Pope John Paul II said in Mexico some 20 years earlier: There will be peace in this world on a permanent basis but only after two of the greatest evils of the 20th century are gone. He singled out those two evils to be communism and capitalism because, he said: They both achieve their objectives through the exploitation of people.

A few years later, communism collapsed and now the world is living under the snares of capitalism whose ultimate objective is the continued dominance of big industry through the sales of their product, regardless of whether or not such product is proven to be beneficial or detrimental to people's lives.

Lack of Confidence in Politicians

We may here realize why Americans have become skeptical about their politicians and why they hardly feel that their vote would make a difference. The weapons industry's slogan: Si vis pacem para bellum -- if you want peace prepare for war, has proven itself to be very deceitful. Unfortunately, our US presidential candidates keep that slogan roaming through their lips because they know that anything they may say or do which is not "blessed" by this agency of destruction will make them wither away fast from the political arena.

No wonder why the vast majority of the American people firmly believe that politicians are first and foremost running for a political office for their own personal and ambitious interests and not for the American people and the good of the nation itself. The question that needs to be raised here is this: What are the churches doing to bring to the American people the truth about the political deceitfulness and the eventual satanic devices of the weapons industrial complex? They choose to keep silent for a variety of reasons, including the fear of the possible loss of their tax-exempt status.

What are the civic organizations doing to make the weapons industrial complex produce tractors for farmers instead of tanks for war, and prefabricated homes for the poor instead of weapons of destruction? Most members of such organizations make a living by working for the weapons industry. They opt for silence not to jeopardize their income! Why is it that the news media reporters never hammer on the evil of this dangerous industry? Most of the media is owned by the weapons industry and by big business. News media reporters, too, are primarily concerned with the kind of money they put in their pocket.

We need a new brand of politicians and news media reporters who view the national defense and security of people everywhere through a program of disarmament, of a good health care system where everything is provided free, of an educational approach where everyone can develop one's full potential. The primary goal of our presidential candidates should be the defense and security of the American people not through military means but through the elimination of terminal illnesses such as cancer of any kind, leukemia, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and other maladies including mental sickness.


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