Moral Authority and the Cost of War

I am neither a proponent nor opponent of war. Rather, I believe that the penchant of humankind to fear diversity, disagree on interests, and covet the possessions of others inevitably leads to skirmishes, conflicts, and outright warfare. Furthermore, there are leaders and rulers who believe they have some sacred right to fight and conquer others (if they can) without due provocation.

Therefore, it is proper and prudent that the US, like other countries, take precautionary measures for the preservation of the state through diplomatic and military means as it counts the moral costs of war.


The famous Chinese general Sun Tzu, in his 2500 year old classic the Art of War, advises that:

1. The art of war is of vital [grave] importance to the State.

2. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

3.The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; and (5) Method and discipline.

We’re concerned here with the foremost requirement that our leaders have the moral authority to legitimize their decisions for war. This authority induces citizens to agree with the policy and dictates of their ruler, irrespective of the dangers to their lives. But when lives are unnecessarily endangered, the people either resist, rebel, revolt, or take revolutionary actions against rulers and the state.

Americans have already revolted at the polls, and there is great hope that future rulers understand Sun Tzu’s warning that “if the campaign [War on Terror] is protracted, the resources of the State [US] will not be equal to the strain. Poverty of the State exchequer (US treasury) causes an army to be maintained by contributions (fiat debt money issued by war-profiteering private US and European banking and corporate interests that control the Federal Reserve) from a distance. To maintain an army at a distance (Iraq, Afghanistan, and possibly Iran) causes the people to be impoverished."

We can see war-induced poverty surfacing in insidious and interrelated ways: a record unemployment rate of 5.7% (more like 10%); record 463,000 jobs lost since January 2008; 5000 US soldiers killed and over 40,000 wounded; record high food and fuel prices; record inflation and consumer debt (“keep those machines (money and credit card presses) on . . .keep those machines on"!); a free-falling US dollar (.54 of Euro); $9.5 trillion national debt with WOT projected to cost $2.4 trillion; 10,000 depositors losing $500 million from deposits not covered by FDIC; and the Federal Reserve's $100 billion Wall Street bailout.

You do the math. The lower the moral authority, the higher the cost of war.