A peaceful challenge to the Global Military-Industrial Complex

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I am preparing this article from a rather intimate point of view; by including my Op Ed News readers in a local conversation in my home town.   It is appropriate to bring others into this local conversation, as it has national and global implications.   Since we are speaking as friends engaged in conversation in this article, as the Author, I will introduce myself.    I'm Michael Richards.   Some readers will be familiar with my writing, as I contribute to Op Ed News on a fairly regular basis.   Op Ed news is a bastion of free speech in a nation that is ruled with fear and mis-information.

There is often a common thread that weaves through the various articles that I write that are published by Op Ed News; I write about sustainable economics, effective citizen governance, and non-violent conflict resolution as an alternative to the wanton waste of war. This article is about bully behavior in the school yard, in the board room, on campus, and on the global battlefield. In this article I connect the dots of how bully behavior damages many segments of society.

My home town is Cedar Rapids, Iowa.   We have a population of about 125,000 citizens here.   We have about a dozen town bosses that think they have a divine entitlement to run the city as they see fit.   That is also bully behavior.   As long as I write about issues as they relate to the national or international scene, my point of view is seen as alternative to the mainstream norm, but expressing my status quo challenging point of view is usually considered with Midwest courtesy and tolerance.   As soon as I speak or write about these very same issues as they relate to the local economy and political gaming in my own home town, I am met with belligerent resistance and disdain from the tight knit local power structure. Unfortunately, the local power structure is dominated by bully behavior.   They apply the Golden Rule here. Those with the big bucks dominate local government... -You know, the old 1% -- 99% rule. The bullies always attempt to bring me to the common state of citizen silence, complacency and conformity.   I do not stand down in the face of bully behavior.  

Speaking truth to power seems to be a bit more palatable, as long as that power is generalized, far away power.   When I turn my focus to the specific actions of the local power structure, there is a personal price to pay; the local social hierarchy does all they can to marginalize me and at times engage in outright attack or intimidation to silence my voice of local dissent.     We have bullies at every level of power in the USA.   Bully bankers want private profit and demand that citizens pay the cost. The biggest bullies on the block are members of the corporate war making cartel.

As one example of this local circumstance, when I was interviewed on a state wide radio talk show based in our State Capital of Des Moines"   -before I even got back in my car to start the 120 mile drive back to Cedar Rapids, I had an irate Cedar Rapids City Council member call my cell phone and demand that I retract my statements and publicly apologize to the power bosses in my home town. My radio interview simply mapped out the local economic and political power structure and pointed out recent abuses of such power.   On the radio interview, I openly invited any of the local power bosses to engage in open public debate, either in a town hall meeting or on a local news broadcast.   No one in the local power structure will step forward with facts to dispute the uncomfortable truth that I had presented, they just demand my compliance and obedient silence.

Since compliance, obedience and silence is the behavioral norm of at least 99% of the citizens in Cedar Rapids, I am expected to uphold the local norm.   When I continued to speak out and write about local misuse of power and public funds, one of the local power bosses contacted the President and board members of a local art and cultural district where I've served on the Board for almost ten years.   The power boss demanded that I be removed from that board, or the local crew of bully bosses that control the local economy would see that no one in this town would direct funding to the art and cultural organization.   When the vote came before our art and cultural district Board, I simply reminded my fellow board members that the only place where artists and writers are silenced and banished are fascist, authoritarian states.   With the exception of one board member with a direct financial connection to a local power broker, my fellow board members stood up to the demand of our local bully bosses.   My board colleagues unanimously voted for my extension with another 2 year term of office, -and also elected me as a board officer.   With that act, my fellow board members restored my faith in our local community, and they did their part in maintaining free speech and open civil comment in an increasingly closed society in the USA.

The personal experience that I share above relates to my topic in this article; bully behavior from school playgrounds, corporate boardrooms to global battlefields.   There are growing initiatives in school districts all over the U.S.A. to counter bully behavior in the classroom and on the playground.   There is a total lack of social context, as this "anti-bully" movement is taking place in a nation that behaves daily as a very violent planetary bully.   As a nation, we demonstrate through our ill-advised foreign policy, and then blunt force military action that violence is the "American Way" of dealing with global political and economic challenges.    If adults behaved with mature methods of non-violent conflict resolution in the global community, they might have credibility with "anti-bully" initiatives in school.    Adults can only really teach by example.     Kids smell hypocrisy and reject BS.

In Cedar Rapids, Iowa we have a close-up look at the operations of the global military/warfare economy.   The problem is, almost everyone in town wants to put on blinders and refuse to look at this at all.   Our town is the headquarters of Rockwell-Collins, one of the most active economic players in the global military industrial complex.   Rockwell brings home the bacon to our home town from the global economic battlefield; 4.8 billion dollars in annual sales.   Half of that is derived from military contracts. They provide the paychecks that keep 7,000 families with homes, cars in the garage and dinner on the table. Rockwell is by far, the largest employer in the region.   Rockwell Collins is thus the sacred cow of the local belief system.   All bow in reverence. No heretics are allowed to question the faith.   This is the Gospel of Global Military Domination.   It brings jobs to town, so it has to represent all that is Good about God, Mom, Apple Pie and everything that Makes America Great" and beyond reproach.

Rockwell Collins CEO sits on a State Economic policy council established by our Republican Governor.   Rockwell does not pay a single dollar of state taxes on almost 5 billion in annual revenue.    To the contrary, the Citizens of Iowa pay Rockwell Collins $14 million in annual tribute to keep the Rockwell jobs in town.   Polite Iowans rarely use terms such as influence peddling or conflict of interest.   Obedient taxpayers just pay the bill.   Intimidation works on most people whether on the playground, the political scene, the global marketplace or on our now endless global battlefield.

I first realized just how entrenched the sacred cow status of Rockwell Collins was in our home town about ten years ago. Rockwell was the economic hero for hiring more people to pump up more war contracts.   As the very first bombs dropped in the endless "War on Terror", a group of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women in town formed Cedar Rapids Women for Peace.   They asked if I would donate use of an historic building that I own in the "art and cultural district" noted above.   As a life-long advocate of non-violence and peaceful, sane economic and political alternatives, I was pleased to do so.   My family living space was in the apartment above "The Peace Center".   For years I heard words of protest and inquiry about the insipid evils of war, and the especially vile, constitution trashing, international law violating concept of "pre-emptive" war downstairs in The Peace Center.

When we all found out that the "War on Terror" was launched through the use of outright lies, the contempt for war and the distrust of our corporate controlled government escalated.   Still, no one seemed to connect the dots back home to Rockwell military contracts.   A professor at an Iowa university that is a world renowned authority on war profiteering and the economic political patronage that rages in the military-industrial complex was kind enough to travel and speak to Cedar Rapids Women for Peace.   The good professor presented detailed documentation on how our nation went from a pre-war federal treasury surplus to trillions of dollars in federal deficit.   He showed how a large part of war is about wealth transfer from us, to them.

Along with other massive national frauds such as the housing/financial fiasco, the military-industrial cartel was raking in trillions, and not providing any measurable improvement in the actual security of the United States; in fact a very strong argument can be made that we have seriously eroded the international respect of the USA with torture, extra-legal assassinations, massive collateral damage to person and property, and other negative consequences of this senseless, endless war. We are much less safe now.   We are Bully Nation. The rest of the world had better respect our entitlement to total control as "The Only Global Superpower".    If the boss speaks, the servants need to be ready to jump fast or at least get out of the way.  We could use our Superpower status to model intelligent conflict resolution. That would actually improve our security.

Thousands of well intentioned, but highly misinformed U.S. soldiers have sacrificed their very life to an idealized, but never realized American Dream.   We sell the empty image of democracy abroad, as U.S. Congress destroys it at home.   Millions of refugees in war zones have been displaced.   Hundreds of thousands on far away battlefields have been maimed or murdered by the mindless march of war.   Hundreds of thousands of physically and mentally damaged US military personnel return to broken families.   The cost is absolutely enormous.   The only winners are the military industrial corporations that master the military economy.   Whenever I mention the role of our hometown hero, Rockwell Collins in this whole sad story, no one wants to acknowledge the obvious connection.   There's still a void of awareness on the local connection with Rockwell.   Silence is Golden, when Gold Rules.

Rockwell-Collins is a major player in the war economy...  As noted above, it is somewhat okay in this town if we protest far away-generalized issues, but bring it close to home, and a deathly pall of silence falls over the room.    How dare I speak out about a local business that employs so many?   I am seen as an infidel, an iconoclast of the sacred local belief system.   The belief system that jobs rule all is a core tenet of the National belief system as well; we can rape the environment, carry on global military empire building with no conscience, and it is all okay, as long as the jobs are delivered.   Are we so lacking in real intelligence and innovation that we could not create just as many jobs within an ecological and just economy? The brilliant engineers at Rockwell could lead the way in this economic paradigm shift with visionary engineering and innovative retooling.   Instead, as a nation we still take the low and easy road, when the high road would lead to a much more vital economy, an economy that would actually be sustainable.

Childhood experience with the "Bully thing"

Since I mentioned that this article is written on a more intimate level, as a conversation among friends, I will share a bit of personal history that provides me with insight on bully behavior from the playground to the battlefield.   Bullies are always insecure people. Bully behavior is not an expression of real strength.   Bully behavior is rooted in deep, irrational fear.   Bullies use violence and intimidation to try to force their way.

  I was born in Iowa in 1950.   My father took a job as a real estate appraiser with the Federal Government when I was six years old.   With his regular career promotions and transfers, most of my elementary school education took place with a year or so spent in each location.   I attended Catholic schools.   As the "new kid on the block", the "new guy in school", I grew up as a favored target of bullies.   In first grade, I took a real hit.   A bloody nose.   Next day, the same boastful bully bashed me again.    I realized as a first grader, that as long as I was passive and fearful, this daily abuse would continue.  I could take a head bashing every day.   I am by nature peaceful, calm and not violent.   I actually abhor the gross ignorance of violence.   I realized the best way to end violence was to stand up with courage.   (Remember, courage is standing up, -even if you are afraid).   As a first grader, I decided to use intelligent, limited self-defense.    I would not accept the role of victim, but one "give it your all" return punch or two was just enough to back off the bully, who is actually banking on intimidation.   Most bullies lose their guts when intimidation does not work.   I had no need to damage the guy, just give him a swift attitude adjustment.   I learned an important lesson as a first grader.   That lesson has influenced how I've lived my six decades.

My ace in the hole when I was a kid was that I grew up among a cluster of cousins in a feisty Irish Catholic family.   Every single cousin, as soon as they could stand and walk came under the kind tutelage of our grandmother's brother, our great uncle, "Lightnin' George.   "Lightnin' George" was very representative of our family gene pool; gentle, kind, soft spoken, compassionate, considerate ...  -but don't mess with me, Jack!   The immigrant Irish need to fight for survival was still very fresh in our family blood, culture and demeanor.   Loving, Happy, Non-violent, -but no victims here, baby.  

Lightnin' George had no formal athletic training, but this scrappy, scrawny Irish farm kid could throw 100 pound hay bales on the family farm all day, grab a quick dinner with farm hands and come back to work until it got just too dark to see the hay rows.   When another cousin, Ralph Hayes fancied himself as a promoter and trainer in small town Iowa, he took his cousin George to the big city of Cedar Rapids for bouts in the annual Golden Gloves tournament.   The city kids did not have a chance.   They would spend a few hours in a smelly gym with stale air.   George was fully oxygenated and vital from the fresh country air, and he'd tossed as much tonnage around in a day, as the city guys pressed with bar bells in a month.   George was a smart, defensive boxer; he danced like Ali, to avoid the punch.   No need to take any more punishment than necessary.   George liked his face.

George had a great strategy" let the brawny, boastful big city thugs wear themselves down" then with thoughtful care and a kind knowing smile, George would deliver a well placed knockout punch.   George also had mental and physical stamina honed from a hard scrabble life on a Depression era farm.   George had what coaches call "Heart" in spades.   He was undefeated in Iowa, so cousin Ralph took cousin George on the train to Chicago, where George gained the accurately descriptive moniker "Lightnin' George"; as he moved so fast that no one could hardly plant a punch on him.   Then, when the burly dudes had worn themselves out, George would land his signature one/two right and left. They all went down.   George was undefeated.   He was the National Golden Gloves Champ of the United States of American in 1938.  

George never went into a boxing ring again.   He came back to his hometown of Creston, Iowa with a few shiny trophies and a duffle bag full of old boxing gloves.   George was a gentle man, but he knew there was no reason for any one in our close knit clan to play the role of victim.   Every cousin got the basic training; keep movin',   keep your eyes wide open watching the opponents every move, -let the big guys wear themselves down, then land that signature one/two, and another one kisses the mat.   Our Iowa/Irish/Catholic family had "equal opportunity" training two decades before the women's movement.   None of the boys in town messed with any of the lovely and lively Irish girls in the family.  

After my first grade bloody nose, I never again suffered any damage at the hand of a bully.   Usually they stayed away, because their attempts to intimidate me met a friendly, yet fearless shield.   Every grade or two, a bully took a swing.    I simply summoned the spirit of Lightnin' George, and one good punch was all it took.   I despise violence in all forms.   I could count my actual bouts on one hand.   I am 62 now.   My last street fight took place when I was eighteen years old.   In a scene out of an old fifties movie, like "Rebels without a Cause", a flashy hot rod full of bullies from a nearby town roared into Creston to crash the local town festival, break beer bottles, harass girls and frighten old ladies. When the Knights of Columbus kicked the ruffians out of the festival beer tent, on their way out they poured a full pitcher of beer over the head of my old grand dad who had just suffered a stroke.   That was intolerable.   I punched one bully, -and four jumped in.   When I delivered the "George" treatment to the second bully in line, he took a really hard fall; and slobbering drunk, he slid down the brick wall of a downtown storefront.   The elderly Knights of Columbus erupted in spontaneous applause. The other cowardly bullies jumped in their car. With a volley of beer and testosterone fueled obscenities, the bullies split fast.

I've stood up to bullies my entire life.    It seems like we have more of them now.   Maybe, that's just because some are in powerful adult positions where we all see them.   Bullies are the same, on the playground or the battlefield.   Bully behavior is very immature on all fronts.   So, why do we behave as a bully nation?   If we converted our use of violent force to real strength, respect and influence in the world, we would be a lot much better off as a nation.   A lot of innocent victims, a lot of "collateral damage" and the sick, insane violence of war could actually come to an end.   We cannot presently claim to be a civilized human society.   When we learn, use and share with the rest of the world the well defined principles of non-violence and intelligent conflict resolution, we can finally enter the adult phase of human history.

So" that's a little personal history.   I've encountered and dealt with bullies all my life.   Recently, I decided to challenge the growing war economy of the Military Industrial Complex, in its local incarnation, Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.     I ran into a few bullies again that night.

Preaching the Gospel of Global Military Domination at a Peaceful Catholic College

Rockwell Collins CEO, President, and Chairman of the Board (yes, this is one person) Clay Jones was the honored guest speaker at a local Catholic institution of Higher Learning on March 20, 2012.     This was the President's Lecture, billed as an annual speech by a community leader that represents "the values and mission of the Sisters of Mercy".    I found this selection of speaker extremely perplexing.   Mount Mercy touts its commitment to non-violence on all of their glossy PR offerings in print and on line.   How then does a corporate executive of a huge military manufacturer illuminate the stated values of non-violence, caring and concern for our global brothers and sisters that is voiced by the Sisters of Mercy and their University?    

I decided it was appropriate to provide the students and faculty of Mount Mercy University with an alternative perspective.

Four local concerned citizens that have honed their commitment to peace with a lifetime of standing strong with courage and dignity to face an often hostile world stood with me.    We were there to peacefully question this extremely obvious inconsistency in stated values. Rockwell Collins, one of the largest military industrial corporations was on the other side of this issue. 

David, meet Goliath.

As a courtesy, our small group of 4 dissenters notified the security force of the college that we would be present to stand in silence as a peaceful protest, and quietly hand out a short one page information flyer.    We learned that open inquiry is no longer allowed at this University. The Security Men were out in force to maintain conformity. They knew full well that we posed absolutely no threat to order. We notified the university security office in advance that we would maintain silence.   We simply were there to present an alternative point of view in the form of a one page information flyer.

We are in an era where our nation is rapidly becoming more and more closed.   Security men now stand guard at almost all gates of "learning". But do we have real learning and critical intellectual inquiry any longer?   There is evidence that the Mount Mercy University campus has now been reduced to another training camp for conformity. The obvious mission in evidence here is to prepare and indoctrinate compliant cogs in the corporate machine.  

Mount Mercy has 1600 students and 150 faculty members. One courageous faculty member who has spent many years on campus stepped forward to explain to me the conformity and hierarchical control of this institution.   A second faculty member told me that "perhaps six people on campus" will even understand why you would protest this issue.   That is an extreme shift in one generation.   During the 1960's I attended both Regis High School and Regis College, an 8 year Catholic academy operated by the Jesuit Order.   As a high school freshman that entered Regis at age 14, we learned the skills of critical thinking and incisive intellectual inquiry.   Latin and Greek, as well as the advanced study of great philosophers from classical, enlightenment and contemporary schools of thought were studied as "core curriculum" for all students.   We learned how to think, we learned how to question.   Now, do the students at Mount Mercy University in 2012 just learn how to follow orders?   What could be so threatening to welcome four quiet, peaceful neighbors at this lecture to share a flyer about an alternate point of view?    At Regis in the 1960's we had courageous speakers such as the Berrigan Brothers visit campus.   Our faculty and students alike challenged the Viet Nam War.     A lot has changed since then.   War now rages on unchallenged.

Adult bullies rarely do their own dirty work now. The 1% have plenty of obedient servants to stand out front for them with loaded guns or police batons. The Security Men approached a mature, kind woman in our small group and commanded her to not hand out one single flyer. Like most bullies, they approached the smallest person in our group. The security guys did not even talk to the 3 men.   The Security Men ordered that our group of 4 would be "forcibly removed" and arrested if necessary.   Why would we be considered so threatening to Rockwell CEO Clay Jones and the President of this University?   

Our group of four listened in silence to Mr. Jones glowing PR presentation about the fine role that Rockwell plays in the world market and in our home town.    The President of the University introduced the speech as "a dialogue where we invite students and the public to explore important issues".    Clay Jones allowed 3 people to ask questions at the end of his speech.   One was a professor that asked how Mount Mercy Students could be best prepared for jobs at Rockwell.   One man, who said that he held two jobs, one with Rockwell and one at Mount Mercy offered gratitude for his job.   One African immigrant working on an M.B.A. provided the only shred of critical inquiry; He asked Clay Jones how the USA could change our foreign policy to foster the development of more friends and allies in the world, instead of our present path that seems to mainly create more enemies.   Clay Jones was very dismissive of such a question.   Clay Jones stated that we have enemies, "because we are wealthy, and our enemies are envious; Our foreign policy has nothing to do with it". Jones then stated that the only way to deal with a dangerous world with all of these enemies was to make sure that we build up a stronger military force.   Two of our four had to step out and get fresh air as an antidote to such rank hubris, nationalistic entitlement and total intellectual blindness .    

We had witnessed a speech that this University said was selected to "represent the values of the Sisters of Mercy ."

As I noted at the beginning of this article, I am writing this essay as if it is a conversation with friends.   This local conversation has national and global implications. Since the one page flyer below was forcibly censored, the 300 or so people at the lecture hall were all prevented from even seeing this alternate information.   As my friends, would you readers please counter this gross censorship by sharing the one page flyer below with friends in your community?   The Mount Mercy Security Men stopped it from getting it into the hands of a few hundred people.    You readers, can distribute this flyer below and get it into the hands of millions.   Op Ed News has great social media connect/forward options.     Thank you for your help.         Peace.

Here is the one page flyer that was censored at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on March 20, 2012;  

Rockwell Collins Information Brief

In 2011, Rockwell Collins generated sales revenue of $4.8 billion dollars. During the decade of active global warfare in Afghanistan and Iraq, Rockwell experienced double-digit revenue growth. Defense contracts represent about half of Rockwell income. Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids is one of the largest proponents of drone warfare and production of surveillance drones now deployed over U.S. civilian airspace.   It is documented that thousands of civilians including women and children are killed as "collateral damage" in Drone airstrikes in active war zones and other areas of clandestine conflict.   According to field generals, residual hate generated by drone strikes activates the number of committed terrorists exponentially. If you think this kind of warfare makes you safer, then it is time to do some serious research and know the facts.   Drone Warfare is commanded as Virtual Reality from computer stations at airbases in the USA, so that violent war can proceed with no U.S. casualties. That makes endless global war much easier to "sell" to the U.S. public. It is important to note that the primary purpose of Rockwell Collins as a private corporation is to sell more goods and produce wealth for their stockholders. There is no real connection to the human pain, misery, death and destruction on the "other side" of a fuzzy drone computer image.   Drone warfare is the most unaccountable war model in U.S. history, and thus it's the most dangerous form of war in human history. Drone warfare provides an expanding market for Rockwell. The "detachment from reality" in drone warfare also makes it possible for Rockwell staff to "psychologically detach" from the real human effect of their work.  

Military industrial corporations generate billions from the war industry. Our nation went from a treasury surplus to 16 trillion dollars in national debt during our decade long "War on Terror ".   As President Dwight D. Eisenhower observed, every dollar spent in the military/industrial complex is a dollar removed from education, U.S. infrastructure, health care and other real needs of common citizens. It's time to evaluate our core values and priorities as a nation.    The huge intellectual capital of the thousands of Rockwell engineers could be converted to peaceful, productive and humane technology in the areas of energy, communication and transportation, but the incentive for Rockwell to spend millions to lobby Congress for more war sales is very strong.   War sales provide Rockwell with a much greater profit margin, as there are no cost controls or accountability with our public funds. The Department of Defense is the only U.S. agency that does not require audits on expenditures.   The gates are wide open for war profiteering.   The Pentagon admits huge systemic waste.   It is the responsibility of concerned citizens to demand change in this system.

Authors Website: http://www.facebook.com/groups/144226109034583/

Authors Bio:
Michael Richards is a life long innovator, entrepreneur and author. His most recent book is;

SUSTAINABLE OPERATING SYSTEMS/The Post Petrol Paradigm
(available on line at; www.amazon.com

Mr. Richards has presented as an author, speaker and conference leader at universities and conferences in USA,Asia and Europe this year. Contact at 319-213-2051 USA.

Michael Richards is the inventor of soybean oil wax replacements for petroleum wax. He serves as President of Soyawax International, a US firm that ships product to 25 nations.

Michael Richards is the founder of a not for profit research and educational organization; SUSTAINABLE ECOLOGICAL ECONONIC DEVELOPMENT (S.E.E.D.) SEED orgainizes conferences for city, state and governmental organizations to work on conversion to sustainable economic alternatives.