However, there are 45 other states in the U.S.A., so geographically these 5 states are carrying a “war burden” density, along the I-35 & I-70 roadway corridor, per square mile not experienced by most of the other U.S. states or regions.
Texas is particularly hard-hit along the I-35 corridor, with bases in or near Dallas, Ft. Worth, Killeen and San Antonio taking a brunt of Iraq War deaths and war wounds—i.e. experiencing nearly 40 to 50 % above the national average of wounded or war deaths than for most U.S. communities.
RISE OF THE GUNBELT, RISE OF SHOCK ECONOMIC DOCTRINE
About 7 years ago, I was in a doctoral level political science class at Texas A&M University (home to the Bush Library, Cold War Secret Archives, and the think tank of neo-cons who brought you the Iraq War). One professor of American politics, policy & research whom I took two courses under there did not question the status-quo in terms of politics as usual in the USA.
During one discussion with this professor, I indicated that it was well-known that the rise of Sunbelt States after WWII was propelled by the fact that a large economic- and brain-drain transfer had started around 1940 in the U.S.A. related to the arms industry, military training, base construction, etc.
That particular professor challenged my line of thinking, claiming that no research had been carried out conclusively demonstrating that a great percentage of that post-WWII defense spending (from Virginia, Georgia & Alabama to Texas and Kansas to California & Washington state) had negatively distorted the U.S. economy.
I responded in surprise, “Sure there was such research, and the research had been carried out both through qualitatively and quantitatively!!”
I subsequently showed that professor the book, The Rise of the Gunbelt: The Military Remapping of America (1991), by Ann Markusen, Peter Hall, Scott CampbellSabina Deitrick. Not only had I read the book, I told him, but I had since noted that the book was used around the U.S.A. in several upper level and graduate classes on political science, policy, and public management. A short on-line description of this classic book, The Rise of the Gunbelt, is as follows: “Since World War II, America's economic landscape has undergone a profound transformation. The effects of this change can be seen in the decline of the traditional industrial heartland and the emergence of new high tech industrial complexes in California, Texas, Boston, and Florida.” Moreover, “The Rise of the Gunbelt demonstrates that this economic restructuring is a direct result of the rise of the military industrial complex (MIC) and a wholly new industry based on defense spending and Pentagon contacts. Chronicling the dramatic growth of this vast complex, the authors analyze the roles played by the shift from land and sea warfare to aerial combat in World War II, the Cold War, the birth of aerospace and the consequent radical transformation of the airplane industry, and labor and major defense corporations such as Boeing, Lockheed, and McDonnell Douglas. Exploring the reasons for the shifts in defense spending--including the role of lobbyists and the Department of Defense in awarding contracts--and the effects on regional and national economic development, this comprehensive study reveals the complexities of the MIC.” As a history and social science instructor from the USA, I believe firmly that these sorts of books, The Rise of the Gunbelt or Namoi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, and their contents should not be relegated to upper level courses in universities. They (and their content) need to be shared with incoming university students in order to better form and inform future generations of students taking U.S. history of politics and economics what has been going on in America over the past 4 to 7 decades. Further, more and more research demonstrating the shifts in American political economic history must be produced and published at the universities in the USA. The whitewashing of cultural memory must end! As well, in the immediate future this truer political-economic understanding of history and economics of post-WWII America should be fully integrated into public and private high school curricula. (I believe many European states, such as Germany and France have educated students in the area of the political-economic developments of their own societies than is the case in U.S. public school curricula. Maybe if math, history, and political economics were better linked no one would fall for the neo-con and pro-Milton Friedmen rhetoric than misinformed the previous generations in the USA.) For too many generations in the USA, these simple facts which the NATIONAL PRIORITIES PROJECT are spelling out very clearly have been ignored on the ground by teachers and professors—i.e. those educators who should have known better as to how their own country had been transformed and has in part had its spiritual growth and economic promise stunted by almost continuous war economies since 1940. This is also why I find partial fault with the shallowness of some of the talking points in the 51+ sections of the NPP website related to “Cost of the Iraq War” , e.g. for not digging deeper into how school education and the raising of a misinformed America have been a result of the “War Shock” economies America has faced or intentionally placed itself in almost-continuously for over 7 full decades now. Further, NPP needs to (1) use and show the economic and monetary multiplier effects of misspending and (2) explain more thoroughly how misspent monies now have double-, triple- the negative effect on the U.S. economy in a few short years time. In this area of taking both a long term historical- and futurist- view economic development is where both Naomi Klein’s recent book, The Shock Doctrine, and the Rise of the Gunbelt have succeeded, i.e. by the authors’ combining thoroughly the quantitative and qualitative effects on each and every generation--and how the economy of each and every generation gets further and further distorted over time. The U.S. ended World War II (1945) with the majority of money, gold, and immediate productive capacity on the entire planet Earth. Americans of each and every generation since that time need to understand political economy and their own history in order to stubbornly ask anew: What happened with all that capital? How has America misspent or misused that position of power since then? (What have we as a nation and individuals done with all the money, power, and know-how that brought the U.S. to such dominance in 1945?) How will we answer God if he asks us: “What did you do with all that I have given you?” Will we simply, as a people called Americans, answer in the End Time as follows? “We simply blew everything up!” “We dropped some big bombs. They went ka-boom. We shock and awed everyone!” “We flew jet fighters really fast. Way cool!” “We outspent our enemy in the Cold War—Wooooaahhhh, that was close! (Our economy would have likely collapsed 5 years after the Soviets if Gorbachev hadn’t come along and thrown in the towel on the Soviet side back aound 1986.)” “We fired some big guns, we killed some people, we destroyed ways of life, etc.!” What do you want history to remember the American Democratic experiment for/? The main point is whether we will we take hold of our American destiny and do much better with the economic benefits we possess and finally build an America to be really proud of? i.e. a society that looks after the poor? Or provides great homes, housing and opportunity to everyone? One that is more democratic and just than any other nation by far? Or, are we going to simply settle for the mediocre and destructive path we have been on with this Chicago School of Economics the past 4 decades? I vote “NO” to the continuation of the permanent war and “Shock Doctrine”. It is your choice, America? Grab your chance now! Get wise and take back the country, people, and get on a much more positive course (or destiny) than the path we currently trod upon! Use the tools on the web, like NPP, but go out and develop other weapons to stop the War on the better development of America and the American economy. Now!NOTES
“A Vote For More War: States and Congressional Districts”, http://www.nationalpriorities.org/Publications/A-Vote-for-More-War-States-and-Congressional-Dist-2.html
Klein, Naomi, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, http://www.naomiklein.org/main
Markusen, Ann; Hall, Peter; Campbell, Scott; Deitrick, Sabina.
The Rise of the Gunbelt: The Military Remapping of America (1991), Oxford: University Press.
Markusen, Ann; Hall, Peter; Campbell, Scott; Deitrick, Sabina.
The Rise of the Gunbelt: The Military Remapping of America (1991) http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Politics/AmericanPolitics/HistoryPolitics/?view=usa&ci=9780195066487
NATIONAL PRIORITIES PROJECT (NPP), http://www.nationalpriorities.org/home/3.html
“The Shock Doctrine , Klein, Naomi and The Rise of Disaster Capitalism”,
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/17/1411235
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