This failure of representation should not surprise us. The U.S. government hardly ever acts against powerful, wealthy interests simply because a majority favors something in poll results. [x] It's even very common for elected officials to brag about ignoring polls in order to follow their principles.
To motivate the Congress to change its budgetary priorities, or to motivate major media corporations to tell people about them, would require a lot more than giving the right answer to a pollster. Shifting 10% out of the Pentagon would require huge numbers of people passionately demanding and protesting for a much larger shift than that. The 10% would have to be a compromise, a bone tossed to a mass movement insisting on 30% or 60% or more.
But there's a big hurdle on the way to building such a movement. When you start talking about a major conversion to peaceful enterprises, or nuclear abolition, or the eventual abolition of militaries, you run headfirst into a surprising topic that has very little to do with the world you currently live in: WWII.
It's not an insurmountable hurdle. It's always there, but most minds, in my experience, can be moved to some degree in under an hour. I'd like to move more minds and to make sure the new understanding sticks. That's where my book comes in, as well as a new online course based on the book.
The new book lays out the case for why misconceptions about World War II and its relevance today should not be shaping public budgets. When less than 3% of U.S. military spending could end starvation on earth [xi], when the choice of where to put resources shapes more lives and deaths than all the wars [xii], it matters that we get this right.
It ought to be possible to propose returning military spending to the level of 20 years ago [xiii], without a war from 75 years ago becoming the focus of the conversation. There are far better objections and concerns that one might raise than "What about WWII?"
Is a new Hitler coming? Is a surprise recurrence of something resembling WWII likely or possible? The answer to each of those questions is no. To understand why, it may help to develop a better understanding of what World War II was, as well as to examine how much the world has changed since WWII.
My interest in World War II is not driven by a fascination with war or weaponry or history. It's driven by my desire to discuss demilitarization without having to hear about Hitler over and over and over again. If Hitler hadn't been such a horrible person I'd still be sick and tired of hearing about him.
My new book is a moral argument, not a work of historical research. I have not successfully pursued any Freedom of Information Act requests, discovered any diaries, or cracked any codes. I discuss a great deal of history. Some of it is very little known. Some of it runs counter to very popular misunderstandings so much so that I've already been receiving unpleasant emails from people who haven't yet read the book.
But virtually none of it is seriously disputed or controversial among historians. I have sought not to include anything without serious documentation, and where I am aware of any controversy over any details, I have been careful to note it. I don't think the case against WWII as a motivation for further war funding requires anything more than facts we can all agree on. I just think those facts lead very clearly to some surprising and even disturbing conclusions.
[i] Here's a PowerPoint I've used for this presentation: ldbeyondwar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/endwar.pptx
[ii] In the United States, in my experience, the leading contenders are WWII, and in a distant second and third place, the U.S. Civil War and the American Revolution. Howard Zinn discussed these in his presentation "Three Holy Wars," Click Here My experience roughly matches polling done in 2019 by YouGov, which found 66% of Americans polled saying that WWII was completely justified or somewhat justified (whatever that means), compared to 62% for the American Revolution, 54% for the U.S. Civil War, 52% for WWI, 37% for the Korean War, 36% for the First Gulf War, 35% for the ongoing war on Afghanistan, and 22% for the Vietnam War. See: Linley Sanders, YouGov, "America and its allies won D-Day. Could they do it again?" June 3, 2019 click here
[iii] I've also done debates with a West Point professor on whether war can ever be justified, with polling of the audience shifting significantly against the idea that war can ever be justified from before the debate to after. See https://youtu.be/o88ZnGSRRw0 At events held by the organization World BEYOND War, we use these forms to survey people on their change in opinion: Click Here
[iv] National Priorities Project, "The Militarized Budget 2020," Click Here For an explanation of the discretionary budget and what isn't in it, see Click Here
[v] Occasional polls have asked what people thought the military budget was, and the average answer has been wildly off. A February 2017 poll found a majority believing military spending was less than it actually was. See Charles Koch Institute, "New Poll: Americans Crystal Clear: Foreign Policy Status Quo Not Working," February 7, 2017, Click Here It's also possible to compare surveys in which people are shown the federal budget and asked how they would change it (most want big shifts of money out of the military) with polls that simply ask whether the military budget should be decreased or increased (support for cuts is much lower). For an example of the former, see Ruy Texeira, Center for American Progress, November 7, 2007, Click Here For an example of the latter, see Frank Newport, Gallup Polling, "Americans Remain Divided on Defense Spending," February 15, 2011, Click Here
[vi] Nations' military spending is displayed on a map of the world at Click Here The data comes from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), https://sipri.org U.S. military spending as of 2018 was $718,689, which clearly excludes much of U.S. military spending, which is spread over numerous departments and agencies. For a more comprehensive total of $1.25 trillion in annual spending, see William Hartung and Mandy Smithberger, TomDispatch, "Tomgram: Hartung and Smithberger, A Dollar-by-Dollar Tour of the National Security State," May 7, 2019, .tomdispatch.com/blog/176561
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