Summary: A vast pro-war establishment powers the militarization of US foreign policy. Often funded by government contractors, a horde of advocacy groups, think tanks, and academics explain that the answer to most challenges is a large military – and war. They are warmongers, in the literal sense of those who start wars for personal profit.
“By making it clear in the most irreverent ways possible that you are happy to see McCain go, you are giving others permission to step outside of the lines they’re being herded into, and you are helping to create a world where murderous warmongers are marginalized instead of celebrated.”
— Caitlin Johnstone in “Do NOT Let Them Make A Saint Of This Asshole.“

Warmongers are not, in western tradition, warriors. The first known use of the word is in Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1758). For Spenser, a warmonger is the opposite of a true knight. Following this passage are examples of modern warmongering. It’s time to call these people out for what they are. Until that day they will continue to have a baleful effect on America, twisting us from our past — disrupting the world, a path that will not end well for us.
The Faerie Queene is a complex and subtle work, rich in lessons for us. It discusses the virtues of holiness, temperance, chastity, justice, and courtesy — all lost to us, making us smaller. It even has a warrior woman, who cross-dresses as a knight. Look beyond the medieval settings. They are people, just like us but with different strengths and weaknesses.
The characters: Malbecco is the husband of Hellenore. Braggadocchio is a knight; Paridell is a false knight.
That bold he {Malbecco} said; O most redoubled Peer,
Vouchsafe with mild Regard a Wretch’s Case to hear.
Then sighing sore, It is not long, said he,
Since I enjoy’d the gentlest Dame alive;
Of whom a Knight {Paridell}, no Knight at all perdy {truly},
But shame of all that do for Honour strive,
By treacherous Deceit did me deprive:
Thru open Outrage he her bore away,
And with foul Force unto his Will did drive;
Which all good Knights, that Arms do bear this day,
Are bound for to revenge, and punish if they may.
And you most noble Lord that can and dare
Redress the Wrong of miserable Wight,
Cannot employ your most victorious Spear
In better Quarrel, than Defence of Right,
And for a Lady, against a faithless Knight:
So shall your Glory be advanced much,
And all fair Ladies magnify your Might,
And eke my self (albe I simple such)
Your worthy Pain shall well reward with Guerdon {reward} rich.
With that, out of his Bouget {bucket} forth he drew
Great store of Treasure, there-with him to tempt;
But he {Braggadocchio} on it look’d scornfully askew,
As much disdaining to be so misdempt {misjudged},
Or a War-monger to be basely nempt {named}:
And said, Thy Offers base I greatly loath,
And eke thy Words uncourteous and unkempt;
I tread in Dust thee and thy Money both,
That, were it not for shame: So turned from him wroth.
Unlike Braggadocchio, our warmongers are paid to involve America in foreign wars. It is a great business. One of the most influential in America today.
For More Information
If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See all posts about our long war, and especially these about our warmongers…
- In America, both Left and Right love the long war.
- Our geopolitical experts, like Max Boot, lead America into the dark.
- Why we fight.
- America’s hawks sing a song of national decline.
- After 13 years of failed wars, do we know our warmongers?
- Will our geopolitical “experts “lead us to ruin?
Books about our mad wars
Tomorrow’s Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa by Nick Turse (2015).
Anatomy of Failure: Why America Loses Every War It Starts by Harlan Ullman (2017).


Some of the comments on Johnstone’s website explain much. If McVain really was given “parole and special favor by the enemy” because of his father – the thing you swear not to do in the service – then he never really experienced being a POW the way our other soldiers did. Thus, he never really experienced war and is comfortable sending others into it. Belligerents like McCain have no honor so they can’t be outraged by the moral state of the world such that they want to fight for just causes (Nigerian Christians being slaughtered, for example). Contrast McCain with both of my grandfathers who were wounded in WWII. One spent 7 months in a POW camp in Poland. I never heard any of them advocate for any of the wars since.
PRCD,
I don’t pay attention to the stories about McCain’s POW years.
McCain served in the US armed forces, and several of his sons have done so as well. I don’t believe parsing that further tells us anything. Or is even relevant — plus or minus — to his advocacy of a belligerent foreign policy, or his warmongering.
Johnstone’s wish has come true. McCain passed on yesterday.
Drudge has photo of young McCain. Damn if he doesn’t look like “Top Gun” Tom Cruise. Laughed my a$$ off. McCain got last laugh!
Going to Legion and drink to him. God speed Johnny! I wish you had done better. The Week Magazine treated you better than hippie Johnstone even though I do agree on the warmonger issue. I know better now.
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