Self-Indulgence, Ego and Perpetual War

Childhood memories hold a jumble of unrelated mental blurbs, everything from certain toys you had or bad cases of poison ivy, to curiosities about photos in your parents albums.
Vividly I can only imagine now, what memories and unforgettable times my parents surely had in Manila during WWII. This photo is of my father standing with another American officer and an Australian (on the plane itself) which had already been ransacked for mementos by other servicemen. In the Army medical corps, my father dealt with water sanitation for his unit and the unmentionable STD's (which he did speak to me about when I was old enough). But other than a total disdain for war in a general sense, he did not want to speak about the war - period.
Later years when Viet Nam was happening, both my parents spoke with horror of the realities Churchill had spoken of - that we would be doomed, and in fact repeating past mistakes, in going into other wars in the first place. Both parents questioned the necessity of that war - and my mother of course questioned the war in Iraq from it's start.
Weekly I sigh at hearing callers to C-span, with anger in their voices, shaming others in this country for "not supporting the troops" and other such admonishments. Even though we have all repeatedly stated that our non-support of "war" has NO connection to a "non-support of troops"... still these misperceptions persist. And as Eisenhower said - it is our military industrial complex - combined with a throughly entrenched corporate culture supporting only the greed and avarice of a few people now holding all the straws - that has emptied our coffers, as well as sucked up oil resources (as if Hummers and tanks don't abuse gasoline?).
So we consider engaging in Iran - and/or engaging in the Georgia/Russia fracas? What can we be thinking? The country is bankrupt - everything from the housing debacle (pushed by legislation loosening regulations on the banking industry brought to you by the likes of Phil Gramm started during the Reagan administration), to the nearly bereft of all logic - tax laws allowing most corporations to pay 0 or minuscule taxes.
And yet those very military/industrial folks and their mindsets still seem to believe that when we no longer have a middle-class to pay taxes (since we are paying more of them than any other group)...that things will still be fine? Except for the corporate farmers, our mom & pop farmers are going belly-up in huge numbers. We have horrid numbers of people forced to swallow their remaining pride and apply for food stamps - the food banks are mostly empty and struggling besides? What is wrong with everyone. Open your eyes!! Except for writing down my total disdain for what is happening, has happened, and what is being proposed...and always voting - as always it is the people in power who have to make changes! We need a total change. And at this late date we have to put our own country to rights starting with bringing jobs back home, creating a healthcare system for everyone, and working out how to care for all the veterans and their lives that have been wrecked by the greed and avarice of the men at the top. All this without even mentioning the total decimation of the country of Iraq and the millions of lives we have brought to an end. Lastly do we really BELIEVE we have any right to tell Russia what to do, after the things we have done in Viet Nam and in Iraq? As a nation we are overdue to connect the dots from what have been our own actions/reactions...and the fiscal and psychological results both abroad and at home.