Trump, Taxes, and military adventures

Mr. Trump has proudly acknowledged that he fights to pay as little tax as possible so that the federal government cannot waste his money.
- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/07/us/politics/democrats-see-opening-in-tax-overhaul-fight-trumps-own-deductions.html

So now he is busy wasting our money with military attacks that didn't do much lasting damage, with increased military spending in a military budget that dwarfs quite a few of the next largest military budgets combined.

Does "Make America Great Again" mean being able to engage in whatever military fiasco Trump wants?  Ah, but he doesn't read history: Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria.

And he forgets the American Revolution: a ragtag bunch of locals beat a seasoned army of a superpower of the day.  Ah, they did get some help from an enemy of the superpower, but that superpower was acting under the direction of the American generals.  The American generals were not acting under the direction of the superpower.

Are we on the cusp of peace or of war?

President Rouhani of Iran is working to make life more open for Iranians and to build more bridges to the West.  See "Not for Prime Time: Music Video with Iran's President" and "Iran Invites Inspectors to Nuclear Site".

On the other hand, China has declared certain air space as requiring permission for others to enter.  The U.S., Korea, and Japan felt compelled to enter that air space.  Now China is sending fighter jets into that space.  See "China Sends Jets into 'Air Defense' Zone After Flights by Japan and Korea".

We have one situation slightly defused and another situation ignited.  The first can bring about more peace, and the second can put war a lot closer than most of us want.  Will we have a Kennedy and a Khrushchev to resolve the latter?

How many people must die before you show up and vote?

Too many times we have had "wars of choice" where we went in with little understanding of the countries we invaded.  We assumed that all our fancy weaponry would overcome "the enemy" with "shock and awe".  We are really dismayed when the people we are "protecting" regard us as the enemy and can fight for years with far less sophisticated weaponry.

We have forgotten our own history.  There was a well-organized army with advanced weaponry and organization "protecting" us.  But many of the people regarded this army as the enemy.  They formed poorly-armed, poorly-organized militias and fought back.  It took eight years for the "super-power" of the time to admit defeat.

Now we are getting ourselves into the same quagmires as that once world-spanning empire got itself into, not once, but many times.  Thousand of our countrymen are killed and even more are permanently maimed.  The casualties of the citizens of the "enemy" country are even greater.

But less than half of us vote into office our governments that beat the war drums.  The opposition party often goes along with or eggs the other party into the conflict.  Too many of those who dislike both parties or for some reason are unhappy with the less aggressive party don't show up.

Now we are seeing a similar situation within our own borders.  Many people were dissatisfied with the party of their choice and stayed home in the 2010 elections.  The more aggressive party "won" the elections in many jurisdictions and is enacting laws that allow citizens to "protect themselves" with impunity against some unspecified "enemy".  If there are no witnesses, these armed citizens can kill somebody "threatening" them and face no consequences.

Thus was set up the situation that many predicted – an armed white man killed an unarmed black teenager!

How many people must die before you show up and vote?