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Patriotic Dissent: America in the Age of Endless War
This incendiary work by Danny Sjursen is a personal cry from the heart by a once model U.S. Army officer and West Point graduate who became a military dissenter while still on active duty. Set against the backdrop of the terror wars of the last two decades, Sjursen asks whether there is a proper space for patriotism that renounces entitled exceptionalism and narcissistic jingoism. A burgeoning believer and neoconservative, Sjursen calls for a critical exploration of our allegiances, and suggests a path to a new, more complex notion of patriotism. Equal parts somber and idealistic, this is a story about what it means to be an American in the midst of perpetual war, and what the future of patriotism might look like.
160 pages, Hardcover
Published September 8, 2020
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October 29, 2021
Imagine the Democratic Party EVER returning to their 1904 Platform which was, “We oppose militarism. It means conquest abroad and intimidation and oppression at home. It means the strong arm which has ever been fatal to free institutions.” In contrast, Democrats since FDR have never met an illegal war they didn’t like. Patriotism today: thank the troops, love America (while pretending America doesn’t also mean South America, Central America and even Canada as well as the US), and keep your mouth shut. Without a military draft, 99% of the US stay away from service. Without a draft, and thus skin in the game, far fewer citizens study US wars and their legality, or join anti-war rallies. Soldiers take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. What’s an example of domestic enemy of the constitution? Every President on both sides of the aisle since FDR has boldly violated the Constitution by ignoring Nuremberg Principles. Chief executives going from one war to another without congressional approval are knowing violations of the Constitution. Oops…
The Army refers to wounded Iraqi civilians as “wounded local nationals”. Liberals pretend to love MLK (but not as much as they love Obama), however at the time of MLK’s assassination, MLK had an approval rating of just 25%. John McCain voted against Martin Luther King Day becoming a holiday. Former actor Reagan said MLK was “based on an image, not reality”. Filipino resistance to US imperialism “raged from 1898 to 1913.” We shot them down because, just like us, they had stood up for their own independence.
After the Sedition Act was passed in 1917, a New Hampshire citizen went to jail for three years, just for saying he thought WWI was a banker’s (J.P. Morgan’s) war, not a war for the People. The US had asked for 1,000,000 recruits but got only 73,000. Within six weeks, WWI forced conscription began. There were 330,000 US war evaders during WWI. War historians like Daniel know WWI was won mostly by the French, with British in second place. And WWII was won by Russian blood (Richard Heinberg would say instead that Germany and Japan lost by running out of oil). Nixon, to lessen anti-war protest, lowered troop levels and instead upped the illegal and secretive bombing. Nixon never believed he could win the war.
One fast way to bring back the anti-war movement today is to simply bring back the draft. “The Army now gets more soldiers from the state of Alabama, population 4.8 million, than it does from Los Angeles, New York and Chicago combined.” Let’s not forget that “it was Obama who first sanctioned, supported, and enabled the Saudi terror bombing of Yemen, which even now, remains perhaps the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.” Luckily, if you and your family look great in photos, no one cares about your blatant war crimes in office because the press won’t cover it. “The military budget is constitutionally mandated to be funded annually.”
There is a “long tradition of veteran dissenters”. George Washington faced two mutinies. The first had lots of unpaid soldiers so he said, pay them. The second had a small amount of soldiers so he said, shoot them. Moral: when you want to talk fairness with a General who owns lots of slaves, make sure you have far more than a hundred people holding weapons agreeing with you. Shay’s Rebellion in Massachusetts, was a “rebellion against state-level wealthy, elite financier interests.” Getting paid in near worthless Continental currency had been no joy for soldiers returning home without funds. Here’s Washington summation of Shay’s Rebellion, “…that mankind when left to themselves are unfit for their own Government. I am mortified beyond expression.” Here’s Jefferson’s different take, “I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.” Vive la difference. As early as 1786, through Shay’s Rebellion and the two Washington mutinies you can see the beginnings of the history of US combat veteran dissent.
The Bonus Army had the support of the majority of US citizens and look what happened to that. Eisenhower, McArthur, and Patton go in with fixed bayonets and CS gas fired into the crowds. For the crime of wanting justice, over a thousand bonus marchers are injured and a baby died. To Hoover’s and the military’s credit, I’ll bet that baby learned a lesson that day. Here’s Patton’s actual orders from that day to bayonet wielding US soldiers against US civilians, “If they are running, a few good wounds in the buttocks will encourage them. If they resist, they must be killed.” Wow. That baby must have resisted. This was the last great “display of lower-class veteran solidarity” in the US. Probably by design. To prevent another potential Bonus Army after WWII, the GI bill was pushed through. Today’s military includes a whopping nine hundred generals and admirals. I’ll bet those admirals get really upset when they are really engrossed with their fleets and issuing orders and their wife walks up to the bathtub and sinks their boats. Polls show “the US military is the only public institution Americans still truly trust.” I would have said the Post Office.
The Vietnam War ended largely because the government could no longer control resistance. “In 1970 alone there were 209 documented incidences of fragging.” Imagine your own men rolling a live grenade into your tent rather than live another day with you. It almost sounds like a lack of morale. Dissent in the Army today is easy to counter: “Hey, you volunteered!” It’s funny, but the actual military ends up pretty socialist; you get free meals, lodging, health and cash benefits. Fellow veteran dissenters include Danny Davis and Matthew Hoh and the great group About Face (Veterans Against the War). Check out libertarian BringOurTroopsHome.us as well for potential alliance. Funny, how anti-war activists through time repeatedly get proven right.
Since 9/11, not one senior general has resigned in protest. Had US WWI resisters boldly hindered the war effort and Germany won WWI, do you think Hitler would have ever risen to power? German WWI victory could have easily meant no WWII. Through the worst of US history there are many stories at the same time of dissent, alternative paths that could have been taken. Lincoln was a Whig anti-war dissenter during Polk’s war with Mexico. Whigs hated Jackson’s Indian removal policies. Iraqi’s overwhelmingly will say what no US patriot wants to hear: Life in Iraq was much better during Saddam before the US military got involved. The most “downtrodden Shia, who hated Saddam with a passion, often told me this.” Obama’s nickname: “assassin in chief.” Ah, the joys of an ex-constitutional law professor blithely killing US citizens without due process. Such a defender of freedom and liberty.
And the US in Libya in 2011 was a shining success for fans of failed states and open human slave-trading everywhere. The recipe? First, you find a country’s leader who dares offer his people what you’d clearly never get in the US (free healthcare & education, gender equality, cheap gas & food, no debt, etc.) then you stop all that with nothing less than a sadistic bayonetting up said leader’s ass to better replace him with a stable of wildly unstable Libyan terrorist groups. Brilliant. Then don’t forget to have Hillary do a disturbingly sociopathic gloat (“We came we saw he died”) on live TV recalling viewing her viewing of actual bayonetting video. Bingo. Now That’s Entertainment, American Style.
The Army refers to wounded Iraqi civilians as “wounded local nationals”. Liberals pretend to love MLK (but not as much as they love Obama), however at the time of MLK’s assassination, MLK had an approval rating of just 25%. John McCain voted against Martin Luther King Day becoming a holiday. Former actor Reagan said MLK was “based on an image, not reality”. Filipino resistance to US imperialism “raged from 1898 to 1913.” We shot them down because, just like us, they had stood up for their own independence.
After the Sedition Act was passed in 1917, a New Hampshire citizen went to jail for three years, just for saying he thought WWI was a banker’s (J.P. Morgan’s) war, not a war for the People. The US had asked for 1,000,000 recruits but got only 73,000. Within six weeks, WWI forced conscription began. There were 330,000 US war evaders during WWI. War historians like Daniel know WWI was won mostly by the French, with British in second place. And WWII was won by Russian blood (Richard Heinberg would say instead that Germany and Japan lost by running out of oil). Nixon, to lessen anti-war protest, lowered troop levels and instead upped the illegal and secretive bombing. Nixon never believed he could win the war.
One fast way to bring back the anti-war movement today is to simply bring back the draft. “The Army now gets more soldiers from the state of Alabama, population 4.8 million, than it does from Los Angeles, New York and Chicago combined.” Let’s not forget that “it was Obama who first sanctioned, supported, and enabled the Saudi terror bombing of Yemen, which even now, remains perhaps the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.” Luckily, if you and your family look great in photos, no one cares about your blatant war crimes in office because the press won’t cover it. “The military budget is constitutionally mandated to be funded annually.”
There is a “long tradition of veteran dissenters”. George Washington faced two mutinies. The first had lots of unpaid soldiers so he said, pay them. The second had a small amount of soldiers so he said, shoot them. Moral: when you want to talk fairness with a General who owns lots of slaves, make sure you have far more than a hundred people holding weapons agreeing with you. Shay’s Rebellion in Massachusetts, was a “rebellion against state-level wealthy, elite financier interests.” Getting paid in near worthless Continental currency had been no joy for soldiers returning home without funds. Here’s Washington summation of Shay’s Rebellion, “…that mankind when left to themselves are unfit for their own Government. I am mortified beyond expression.” Here’s Jefferson’s different take, “I hold that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing.” Vive la difference. As early as 1786, through Shay’s Rebellion and the two Washington mutinies you can see the beginnings of the history of US combat veteran dissent.
The Bonus Army had the support of the majority of US citizens and look what happened to that. Eisenhower, McArthur, and Patton go in with fixed bayonets and CS gas fired into the crowds. For the crime of wanting justice, over a thousand bonus marchers are injured and a baby died. To Hoover’s and the military’s credit, I’ll bet that baby learned a lesson that day. Here’s Patton’s actual orders from that day to bayonet wielding US soldiers against US civilians, “If they are running, a few good wounds in the buttocks will encourage them. If they resist, they must be killed.” Wow. That baby must have resisted. This was the last great “display of lower-class veteran solidarity” in the US. Probably by design. To prevent another potential Bonus Army after WWII, the GI bill was pushed through. Today’s military includes a whopping nine hundred generals and admirals. I’ll bet those admirals get really upset when they are really engrossed with their fleets and issuing orders and their wife walks up to the bathtub and sinks their boats. Polls show “the US military is the only public institution Americans still truly trust.” I would have said the Post Office.
The Vietnam War ended largely because the government could no longer control resistance. “In 1970 alone there were 209 documented incidences of fragging.” Imagine your own men rolling a live grenade into your tent rather than live another day with you. It almost sounds like a lack of morale. Dissent in the Army today is easy to counter: “Hey, you volunteered!” It’s funny, but the actual military ends up pretty socialist; you get free meals, lodging, health and cash benefits. Fellow veteran dissenters include Danny Davis and Matthew Hoh and the great group About Face (Veterans Against the War). Check out libertarian BringOurTroopsHome.us as well for potential alliance. Funny, how anti-war activists through time repeatedly get proven right.
Since 9/11, not one senior general has resigned in protest. Had US WWI resisters boldly hindered the war effort and Germany won WWI, do you think Hitler would have ever risen to power? German WWI victory could have easily meant no WWII. Through the worst of US history there are many stories at the same time of dissent, alternative paths that could have been taken. Lincoln was a Whig anti-war dissenter during Polk’s war with Mexico. Whigs hated Jackson’s Indian removal policies. Iraqi’s overwhelmingly will say what no US patriot wants to hear: Life in Iraq was much better during Saddam before the US military got involved. The most “downtrodden Shia, who hated Saddam with a passion, often told me this.” Obama’s nickname: “assassin in chief.” Ah, the joys of an ex-constitutional law professor blithely killing US citizens without due process. Such a defender of freedom and liberty.
And the US in Libya in 2011 was a shining success for fans of failed states and open human slave-trading everywhere. The recipe? First, you find a country’s leader who dares offer his people what you’d clearly never get in the US (free healthcare & education, gender equality, cheap gas & food, no debt, etc.) then you stop all that with nothing less than a sadistic bayonetting up said leader’s ass to better replace him with a stable of wildly unstable Libyan terrorist groups. Brilliant. Then don’t forget to have Hillary do a disturbingly sociopathic gloat (“We came we saw he died”) on live TV recalling viewing her viewing of actual bayonetting video. Bingo. Now That’s Entertainment, American Style.
October 2, 2020
One of the few times I've paid nearly full price for a recently published book (thrifter here), I bought this and finished it in less than 48 hours. I highly recommend this book and can't recommend it enough!!!! The author is a former combat veteran and a historian who provides an intriguing look at the history of war dissent in this country. There are many astounding moments that he provides to prove to the reader that war dissent is patriotic. I appreciate the takedown of empty hero worship that has emerged since 9/11 as well as the facts of how America has treated its veterans, as well as how foolish policies have caused great harm worldwide. This book is riveting and has so many moments of "wow" that I highly encourage you to read it. Yes, you!
May 17, 2023
You know, when people like Mr Sjursen write books (veterans who become disenchanted with the military, and its hold over their fellow Americans) more people ought to listen. I don't need to be a veteran to know that war is a fucked up & bullshit thing, I'll take their word for it. And no I am not going to thank Mr Sjursen "for his service" but I will thank him for writing this book. And I'll keep working to try & help my country intervene against its seemingly hopeless addiction to military spending, "Every dollar of which takes way from those who need it most." There's much more to patriotism than jumping up and down for the flag and fawning over returned veterans or even the ones still in uniform. Criticizing the moves the government makes "in your name" surely must count, the way you need an auditor to keep a corporation's books right. Books like this help to keep it real for the ignorant masses. As I said, if only more would read...
Read
January 15, 2021The author is a combat veteran, a West Point graduate, who knows from first hand experience
the cost of the US's endless wars. He is a true patriot but what makes
him special in my eyes is his willingness to address and expose the lies that get
us into our endless wars.
the cost of the US's endless wars. He is a true patriot but what makes
him special in my eyes is his willingness to address and expose the lies that get
us into our endless wars.
July 28, 2021
A must read for all Americans. You'll find a more complete definition and understanding of patriotism. A good introduction to American foreign policy and its history of imperialism/settler colonialism.
September 18, 2020
I've become familiar with the author's writing over the past year or so and this short book is in line with his online work. It's part memoir, part history, and part plea to fellow citizens. My understanding of his thesis is that militarism at home and abroad can only be halted through engaged and protracted activism. The forces that quell dissent are strong but 'enlightened' patriots are in good historical company. Now it's time to follow that tradition and do our part!
August 16, 2022
A difficult truth
Having been raised in the prevailing rhetoric, this book brings a sobering view that explains how and why this country is politically corrupt. Next challenge for me is to find an alternate view to this work written with the same objectivity. The must be good of there still.
Having been raised in the prevailing rhetoric, this book brings a sobering view that explains how and why this country is politically corrupt. Next challenge for me is to find an alternate view to this work written with the same objectivity. The must be good of there still.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews