The Conflict Scam

 Song 638: This week on the playlist you’ll find The War Racket by Buffy Sainte-Marie, who also wrote the song, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. Over the last decade, I've learned a lot about WW1 hero Smedley Butler who wrote a book in the late 1930s letting us all know that War is a Racket, and that volume probably provided some inspiration for the lyrical direction here. Back in 2018, Buffy released the album that uses this anthem as its title track. I just found out about the song a week ago, thanks to a cool FaceBook post, and it really grabbed me the first time I heard it. This actually marks the premier appearance of Ms. Sainte-Marie among this collection. I became aware of her in the early 1970s as I got around to crafting my own personal singer/songwriter style, influenced by fellow folkies like her, Donovan, that Bob Zimmerman guy, etc., and Buffy's hit Universal Soldier soon got my attention, so this recent ride adds another layer to the foundation she set 6 decades ago. Back in the 1980s, I wrote a song called Getting Dark which will appear on my upcoming release Rock Ave. and which expressed my concern about U.S. leaders trying to move the nation in the direction of endless war. As the New American Century began, the Bushes and billionaire bullies started to put war on the masses so they could clean out the purse, and the D.C. leaders have continued to increase the numbers of the dead and impoverished by playing their little patriot game. On a side note, I have a lyric video for my Elder Statesman song New American Century Part 1 which illustrates what I have to say about how this murderous racket unfolded 2 decades ago, and you can check that out by clicking on the title.