The job of a government is to protect its citizens and strive to make their lives better. You don’t do that by provoking confrontation with enemies with vastly superior firepower. You certainly don’t goad the world’s military superpowers, “Bring it on!”
Ordinary people just want to lead peaceful and productive lives. They don’t want their lives to be repeatedly disrupted by ravaging wars which bring about utter destruction of everything they own. The common man aspires to the same things as the rest of us.
But of course these victims of the actions of their own governments are not allowed to voice such dissent. Those that do usually learn the hard way that resistance is futile. Protest about conditions, taxes, inflation, poverty, unemployment or corruption at your peril, for arbitrary arrest and torture frequently awaits those that demand change.
A defensive establishment capable of repelling hostile actors is naturally important, but the priority of any government ought to be investing in infrastructure, education, health and social care on behalf of its populace. It cannot do that if it continually pursues forever wars, resulting in the repeated obliteration of civic society.
If your actions continually produce the same results — utter catastrophe for your own people — does a time not come when you countenance a different approach? You’ve tried the path of war. Isn’t it time to contemplate the path of peace?
Last modified: 22 November 2023
