From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Sep 94 13:55:45 PDT
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Revisionist History of the US....:( (fwd)
Message-ID: <199409022055.QAA24441@pipe1.pipeline.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Responding to msg by ravage@bga.com (Jim choate) on Fri, 2 Sep 
10:8  AM

>Lesson 2 should be that the 'external' threat won't 
>last forever and at some  point the real issues will 
>blow up to such an extent that the poplace will  not be 
>concerned about external events because they are so 
>busy trying to  stay alive and make a living.


Yes.  The external threat to the US has diminished, let's hope, 
to where some resources, human and material, can be applied to 
ways to make an advanced society serve its citizenry without 
resorting to fear of foreign boogies.

The way that the surveillance satellite systems of the US and 
the USSR helped to reduce fear of military planners is 
instructive.  This non-lethal technology, though expensive, 
made, and continues to make,  accidental nuclear war less 
likely, and seems to me to be a great service to the world's 
population.

Aggressive weapons systems may be similarly replaced by 
non-lethal technology as scientists and technologists are asked 
to device such apparatus.

Fear of economic and social deprivation might also benefit from 
the talents of those who once produced the tools of the Cold 
War and hot regional conflicts you mention.

Further, this list offers other ways to envision a society less 
dependent on the national security rubric of big Government, 
and may thereby support alternative local initiatives for 
economic and civil affairs.

Kudos for this non-lethal work.


John