Been pondering this in a more abstract sense recently & would recommend Kant's Perpetual Peace as a good place to start this critique is also helpful.

of historical proportions since WWII, we need to stop the propaganda aimed at the American people. That would include breaking up the media conglomerate that beats the drum for endless war. Thank you, Bill Clinton, for the Telecommunications Act that allowed this. Americans need to understand that we have created this hell ourselves.

Secondly, we would need to purge of all the neocon/lib fruitcakes that have inhabited the state department for years. We would need to expose all the war hawks who have brought us to this place in time as the war criminals they are. That would include our current crop - president and she-who-would-be-president. She's hero-Henry Kissinger, Brezinski and the rest of them. We would need to identify the CFR and the Tri-Lateral Commissions as Rockefeller creations that should have nothing to do with US foreign policy.

Thirdly, we would need to stop running foreign policy based on what is good for Israel instead of the US. Every time Israel whines about how badly they are treated, we go bomb another country in the middle east to make them feel better. While they rage about the "possibility" of Iran getting nuclear weapons, Israel sits on at least 300 nuclear war heads of their own. People need to understand that the Palestinians are refugees in their own country. That they were pushed out of their homes and have lived for generations in the equivalent of a refuge camp, totally controlled by Israel.

Fourth, we would need to move rapidly to renewable energy, because much of our foreign policy is based on keeping a handful of oil tycoons in the money. The five oil companies left standing spend millions on getting people elected to office that will dance to their tune.

Fifth, we would need to break up the big banks and the massive corporations that control our dialogue. Who continually talk about the need for "growth" when all they really mean is their own profits. That would include tearing up the disasterous trade bills that have gutted the middle class in this country and negotiating only trade agreements that are mutually beneficial. We used to talk endlessly about strategic assets, businesses in this country. Today, we couldn't ever cloth an army, let alone produce the materials needed to go to war. We need to manufacture strategic goods HERE, not in China.

You get the picture.......

In order to accomplish any of the above, we would need to get campaign finance reform. That would require getting people into office who give a crap about anything but making money. The only way I see changing the status quo is a strong third party built from the rest of us - the 99% of the population that is carrying the burden of taxes and getting nothing for our efforts.

A complete non-interventionist stance is both undesirable and ultimately stupid. In the end, things like Hitler do happen. But we need to change the mindset from security to peace. To do that, we'll need to break the grip of the MIC, the MSM, and other organs of the establishment so that American citizens are not fed a steady stream of war propaganda in their every waking moment.

It blows my mind that over on GOS, the notion that peace is even possible is barely even considered. To suggest that Libya was the Democrats WMD moment is shouted down despite the wealth of evidence documenting the lies and despite the self-evident outcome.

In the end, I do believe in war. I'm not ultimately a pacifist. But war should be fought in two conditions that I can think of:

• Existential threat: This is a no-brainer. Of course, the US has not faced an existential threat since WW2.
• To stop horrors like genocide: This, were it easy to determine, is also a no-brainer. The problem is how does one determine this objectively? You'd need some sort of trustworthy international body to examine the evidence and conclude that atrocities are happening on such a scale that action is demanded. There is no such body.

Ultimately, much of the problem is that our own government and the governments of other nations are not trustworthy. No sensible determination to go to war can ever occur (or for that matter, any other determination) as long as your own government is acting to an agenda which is secret. This is why I've come to put "character" at the top of my list of things I need in a politician. I need politicians who tell the truth. It's the single largest reason why Hillary cannot get my vote.

to President of the United States.