This Country of Ours

JACK
A few days ago, I saw a remarkable motion picture, which stays with me because it is so powerful. It is "Letters from Iwo Jima", which Clint Eastwood directed in tandem with "Flags of our Fathers." The whole thing was tied together for me, when in "Flags of our Fathers," I saw combat footage from sixty years ago of a B-29 making an emergency landing. I realized, this could have easily have been my B-29. As someone who was there, it gave me an eerie feeling to experience the battle from the Japanese side. For the Japanese soldier there was no escape. They had the alternative to die fighting or commit suicide. Those few that overcame the Kamikaze instinct were shot when they tried to surrender to US forces. Once more it came back to me, over sixty years, the futility of war, and the absolute waste of the lives of the youngest, the bravest and the brightest.

HILLARY
It really used to bother me the wars that are being waged around the planet. Not just Iraq, which is in our headlines, but the skirmishes that are fought on a daily basis in Africa, South America, etc. But it seems to me now, that there has always been war and violent conflict. Given your personal history with battle and death, what is it that you think is accomplished by all this fighting? And if nothing is accomplished, why do you think human beings continue to fight century after century?

JACK
I believe that every war has a basis in economics. In the Iraq situation, are we fighting to bring democracy to the Middle East, or to preserve and improve our oil rights? And even World War II (the last of the so-called "Noble Wars") was in a great degree precipitated by our squeezing Japan into an economic corner, and their desire to become an economic Super-Power. A lot of this came through in the novel I wrote, "My Enemy My Friend." At the beginning of the book, I show a meeting of the major Japanese trading companies who realized that the war with America was lost. With the bombs still bursting, they devise a plan to take over the United States economically. The sad part is that we sacrifice our armed forces in an effort, however veiled, to keep the economic balance in our favor.

HILLARY
Sick. It’s really sick. I don’t understand how people can be so greedy. I understand that we have gotten used to a certain way of life. A very convenient way of life. However, I am not wiling to sacrifice a single person in order to maintain my cozy existence.

JACK
You must understand that what I have just said is strictly my take, and although I’m convinced the economy is the major cause, there are a lot of other reasons that line up behind it. I still believe that part of the reason that we fight in the 21st century is that we’re still fighting The Crusades of 1000 years ago.

HILLARY
So, economic dominance and religious homogeny are still the reasons to kill. I mean, KILL? Are you kidding me? Did we not have the enlightenment? Are we still animals fighting over the same food source? We have SO much technology. We can purify the ocean and bring clean water to the masses? What is the deal?

JACK
To make this happen we need motivated leadership. We need to escape the bindings of bigotry and we need to bring forth the power of American Democracy, which was founded as an island against the sea of personal and national combat.

HILLARY
Jack, in my estimation American Democracy has been nothing but a banner under which greed and larceny had transpired. We are the most wasteful, more consuming society that the planet has ever seen. We are not shy about our greed, and the might with which we will use to protect our growing appetite. This is not an "island". This is a cancer.

JACK
Well, this democracy has in fact produced the highest standard of living in the history of the world. This not only applies to the very rich, THERE ARE ENORMOUS iniquities, and there is distorted motivation, but we do move in a positive direction that I feel is superior to any government in the world. The mere fact that, at this time, 70% of the population disagrees with our international policy tells me that the pressure will be so great and new leadership so powerful, that we will move in the right direction. I don’t know how or when this will happen, but we learn through history that the changes will take place. I have lived through this same basic circumstances that toppled Richard Nixon, who had the same disapproval rating, and Lyndon Johnson who would not run again because he knew that Vietnam would defeat him. But always keep in mind that turning the ship around is a very daunting job.

HILLARY
Jack, I really wish that I had your perspective on this country. You have served, and fought and worked to great success. From the depression, through combat, and through business. However, I think that you have uniquely benefited from this society and that your life has been in a specific time that has allowed for your success. That being said, resources are shrinking and people are fighting all over the world. A collapse if not imminent is inevitable. Now, this no longer frightens me, and I am capable of living in this conflated existence, and will find joy within it, but I have 50 more years on this planet, and I imagine that I am going to see a cataclysm called capitalism that you are more likely going to miss.

JACK
I wish I could be with you throughout the trip, but you’re right. I am past the age of the average life span in the United States, which is supposed to be 78 years. But, here’s the point, I never believed in averages, and I always believed that each of us has the unique ability in this great country to realize his or her goals. I can only quote the words of the great statesman Winston Churchill who said, "Our democracy is an extraordinarily inefficient government that makes enormous mistakes, but it is the best there is."

HILLARY
I guess my standards are a little higher.

JACK
And I can only hope that you eventually realize them.

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