menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Can We Cure Ourselves of the Deadly Viruses of Greed and Militarism?

4 5
24.12.2025

Societies, like the people who populate them, can be become quite ill—especially if their condition fails to receive the proper treatment.

Back in 2003, with our nation still reeling from the terror attacks of 9/11, we became quite sick. We fell victim to one of the most virulent germs ever known to humanity, the illegal war virus.

This virus soon had our nation embarking on a disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq, an illegal and immoral disaster that left hundreds of thousands killed and wounded and destabilized an entire region.

George Bush and Dick Cheney initially infected us with this deadly virus. But then, just as we thought the epidemic had passed, a new contagious strain of the virus infected Barack Obama. So instead of trying to finish the virus totally off by quarantining Bush and Cheney in prison, Obama proceeded to bomb Libya and double down on drone warfare. And the virus survived, with a particularly virulent strain that went on to infect Donald Trump, who would quickly deny he had become sick.

Out of the quagmire our society has become, a pathogenic demagogue has arisen.

But didn’t the American bombing of small boats in the Caribbean, a reporter asked Trump, show that you have most definitely caught the virus? Nonsense, answered Trump, who went on to explain that he only bombed the Caribbean small boats because Obama had already set a presidential precedent for such attacks with his extensive drone strikes in Yemen.

But what about, another reporter asked, your threat to violently attack Venezuela? Didn’t that prove that you have also caught the virus? Not at all, responded Trump. Just following precedent. Didn’t Bush and Cheney walk away scot-free from their attack upon Iraq?

Viruses, of course, haven’t been the only plague on our nation’s health. In 2008, we suffered an attack from the deadly Wallstreetium Corruptus bacterium, a microorganism that flourishes in greedy, secret environments that get precious........

© Common Dreams