[Peace-discuss] Weapons and war

[Bob Illyes]

It seems in general that if nations have weapons, they will use
them. It is said that Europe was a "powder keg" prior to WW1,
that every nation was armed to the teeth and it was not a question
of if but when war would happen. Bush and his chums, to some
extent, trained our weaponry on Iraq just for the fun of blowing
up things. They couldn't resist using the weapons they had.
The same is true for the police. When they have Tasers, some
don't seem to be able to resist using them just for the "fun" of
it, for example.

During the Bronze Age, the best weapons were quite expensive,
and only the wealthy could own them. Consequently, small elites
dominated government. Iron was democratizing because it was
relatively cheap. It was possible to arm the entire citizenry.
This likely gave us the Greek dark ages, but also gave us the
start of modern democracy. Gunpowder was also democratizing.
Ordinary Americans could own weapons as good or better than
the Brits, and were able to shake off the Brits. Modern weapons
are incredibly expensive and lethal. They therefore act against
democracy, because only the wealthy and governments can afford them.

This is a cautionary tale. Democracy is in grave danger because
of modern weaponry. It's back to the equivalent of the Bronze
Age if we aren't careful.

Bob