New Essay at C4SS

My second essay at the Center for a Stateless Society attempts to deconstruct the "support the troops" meme and recast it as a shameless failsafe for the preservation of State warmaking authority. Here's an excerpt:

Oil, terrorism, and dictators are just peripheral issues, after all, compared to the bedrock goal of preserving faith in the power and sanctity of our government. The only thing worse than losing a war is losing the right to wage war. The only thing worse than losing an election is losing the system of power and privilege which makes elections worth winning. And the only thing worse than implementing bad policy is the realization that policy is largely irrelevant to reality. Critics of the war are obligated to speak in terms that reinforce the abstract dogma of the State -- otherwise, why would they seek office?

Check out the rest here, and please let me know if I'm making sense.

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Written on Tuesday, February 27, 2007