"I'm tired of being a gangster for capitalism!", page 1

For those who are too lazy to click the link, and who haven't had an eduation in Marine Corps history, I'll spell out what Zapata is talking about.

Several legendary Marine officers in history have kept themselves from becoming commandant because they would not stand by while politicians and yes-man generals dragged the Marine Corps into unjust wars. Smedley Butler was one of them.

From 1898 to 1931, Smedley Butler made his living whipping the hell out of anyone who wouldn't let Western business interests in. He started by putting down the people of the Phillipines who were under American colonialism after the Spanish American War, then he went on to fight the Boxers in China, Nicaragua, Haiti, Mexico, and even the people of Philadelphia during prohibition, although he was well liked in Philadelphia because he enforced the law on high and low class violators alike.

In 1931 Butler left the Marine Corps and wrote a book called "War is a Racket" which was one of the earliest explanations of the Military Industrial Complex. He joined leftist organizations against war and facism which were predominantly communist, however unlike most he maintained his opposition to war steadfastly, and did not wish to intervene on behalf of communists in the Spanish Civil War.
In 1932 He lead 15,000 Veterans in a peaceful march on Washington to demand the bonus they had been promised. President Hoover and Butler were none too fond of eachother from their meeting during the Boxer Rebellion, which may be part of why Hoover ordered the military to drive out the protestors. A military force supported by cavalry and tanks bombarded the protestor's camp with teargas and converged on them with fixed bayonets, killing or injuring many and burning the camp. Mac Arthur, Patton, and Eisenhower lead this violation of Posse Comitatus.
In 1933 Butler was approached by members of financial institutions who planned to use an American Legion and VFW force of 500,000 veterans to carry out a coup- they believed he would lead it because he had lead the peaceful Bonus Army and been confronted with violence. Butler went to congress with the story and in 1934 the congress issued a report which acknowledged the reality of a fascist coup conspiracy but ordered no arrests.

So at this point I'm sure a lot of people are wondering what the point is. The point is that this has relevance to politics today. War is -still- a racket. Although good things have come from the liberation of Iraq, it is undeniable that nobody's lot has improved more than that of Halliburton and Carlyle Group. Not only are we still fighting corporate wars, and we are drumming up new ones. We're leaning on Venezuela's democratically elected government HARD for a shot at that oil. The really scarry part is though that this sort of "corporatism" reminds me of fascism. In fact Benito Mussolini once said that Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism. With that being the case, I believe the potential for heavy handed response to any threat of democracy also exists. In 1932 if a large number of people challenged the system they were dispersed at the point of a bayonet. Today the leaders might get a trip to Camp X-Ray.

Forgive me if I steal somebody else's signature closing, but...
Anti-fascist hero monkies- not just for history class anymore.