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Comment by peterkelly | Hacker News Reader

Here's an idea. Now this might sound a bit crazy, but hear me out:

How about working to prevent terrorism by not murdering innocent civilians in other countries and inciting massive hatred towards the US from those affected and their fellow countrymen?

Can you imagine what would happen if another country was carrying out drone strikes in the US, with similar numbers of casualties?

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That is exactly the kind of common sense most politicians try to fight, constantly.

Ron Paul has been speaking about this for many years now, most prominently during the 2008 elections. It might have cost him quite some votes though, the truth hurts.

A good read on the topic is "Blowback" by Chalmers Johnson.

http://www.amazon.com/Blowback-Second-Edition-Consequences-A...

Problem is, the USA is geared towards those sorts of aggressive methods because of the huge military infrastructure. The solution is to constantly cut the budget and make that aspect less influential.

When you have approximately 1/3 of the population being somewhat dependent on that stream of income, is it still feasible to "go back"?

Economically it's also far less risky to be the bully as long as you can. It would be great to see the US believe more in their productive nerds than in their bullies but at the moment they are playing it safe by somewhat (aside from populist immigration policies - probably not the best for innovation) betting on both of them.

Fully understand that point. I can only suggest that lots of Western countries have slowly reduced their military budgets over decades. They seem to have adapted to the change.

The current course of action in the name of peace is IMO so illogical that I worry that they might be actively mongering war. A passive disregard for war as consequences is the more likely reason though - which isn't much better.

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