Americans Turn Anti-War
The American people are now overwhelmingly opposed [8] to more war in Ukraine, Syria, Iran and elsewhere.
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC poll [9] shows:
Americans in large numbers want the U.S. to reduce its role in world affairs even as a showdown with Russia over Ukraine preoccupies Washington ....
In a marked change from past decades, nearly half of those surveyed want the U.S. to be less active on the global stage, with fewer than one-fifth calling for more active engagement—an anti-interventionist current that sweeps across party lines.
A Pew poll [10] from December found a majority of Americans - more than ever before in Pew’s 50-year history of polling [11] this question – think the U.S. “should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along as best they can on their own.”
A Pew/USA Today poll [12] conducted over the weekend found that Americans oppose - by a 2-1 margin - any U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
A YouGov poll [13] conducted last month found that only 14 percent of Americans said the U.S. has “any responsibility” to get involved in Ukraine, and only 18 percent think the U.S. “has any responsibility to protect Ukraine if Russia were to invade.”
Huffington Post reports [14]:
Americans are more likely than not to say that the United States has no responsibility to get involved in Ukraine even under extreme circumstances, the new survey shows ....
Pluralities of Democrats, Republicans and independents agreed that the U.S. does not have a responsibility to protect Ukraine.
Support for a war against Syria is 500 percent less [15] than for the Iraq war (Americans would rather have a root canal or a colonoscopy [16] than bomb Syria).
A USA Today/Pew Poll [17] from January shows that Americans now believe by a 50%-38% margin that war against Iraq was stupid.
Support even for the Afghanistan war has collapsed. For example, only 35% [18] of all Americans support the Afghanistan war, according to a 2011 CNN poll.
Most Americans are now strongly opposed to intervention in any Arab country [19].
The warmongers, however, are desperate to drum up business [20].
War On Drugs
A new Pew poll [21] also shows that the American people are sick of the war on drugs, noting that a broad majority of Americans are ready to significantly reduce the role of the criminal justice system in dealing with people who use drugs. Pew found:
- 63% of Americans think that we should stop mandatory prison terms for drug law violations
- 54% are in favor of marijuana legalization
- 67% say the government should focus more on providing treatment for people who use drugs like cocaine and heroin, and only 26% think the focus should be more on prosecuting people who use such drugs
Of course, the war on drugs is a total boondoggle [22]. And stopping [23] government support [24] for drug dealers [25] and producers [26] might be a good place to start (even though it is making American banks rich [27]).
Other Failed Wars
Obama has also declared a war on inequality [28]. But given that income inequality has increased more under Obama than under Bush [29], and that bad policy enacted on a bipartisan basis [30] is making inequality worse and worse, we may be in real trouble.
Of course, neither mainstream political party [31] represents the interests of the people ... as revealed by polls [32].