An excerpt from the book, The Gospel Writers, at www.thegospelwriters.com

Are you under the assumption that the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, own the equipment that they use? Is the soldier who stands guard, someplace in the world, under the illusion that the gun he has in his possession belongs to him or to the military branch he is a member of? Unless he paid taxes at sometime, he cannot claim any ownership of that gun. The fact is, all military equipment belongs to the people who paid money (taxes) to make the equipment. The phrase, "Property of the U.S. Army," is grossly incorrect. The truth is, the phrase should be reworded to say, "Property of the U.S. Taxpayers."

I work hard to earn money, and a portion of that money goes to the purchase of military equipment. I pay taxes, and if you too pay taxes, then every piece of equipment that the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines use, belongs to you and every other taxpayer. You and I own ships, aircraft carriers, tanks, guns, bombs, missiles, jets, bombers, and an array of very high-tech gear. And, it represents billions and billions of our money.

All of this military equipment does not exclusively belong to special interest groups, interests over seas, those who pay more taxes because they make more money off those of us who are forced to buy everything we need to live on from them, religious groups who complain louder or are tenaciously whiny, congress, the judicial branch, or the executive branch. "We the people," equally own every last dollar of military equipment. There is no "We-They" the people.

If I want to go inspect or test out some of my military equipment, I ought to be able to do that. I should be able to walk up to anyone guarding my military property, with my W2's in hand, show them to the person who is wearing everything I bought for them, and they in turn, with a big smile on their face, should say, "Yes taxpayer (SSN), I'm glad you came to look at your military equipment today. Do you need any assistance?" And they do this quickly, and courteously, because I am the customer, the consumer of all these billions and billions of purchases in military equipment.

Oh, but what if I was a spy? Well, being such an important consumer of military equipment, I would expect to be pleasantly and respectfully escorted to look at my property. If I wanted to take a tank out for a test drive, I would expect that some nice knowledgeable person would go with me and show me how (since it was my money that educated them in the art of tank driving). We are guaranteed the right to bear arms. I've chosen not to keep my arms at my house, because I don’t' have a lot of room. I keep my arms at military bases, where they can be looked after until I need them. If the person watching my property were to say to me, "For your own good or for the good of the country, I cannot let you see, inspect, or test your own property," I would say to them, "I am the country and I am smart enough to know what "my own good" is. Show me my property or I will get someone to take it away from you and give it to someone else that will.

I don't remember anyone asking me if they could use my property to go bomb Iraq, do you? We have the Internet. I have an email account. Those with the desire to attach Iraq could have mass emailed all of us taxpayers, (or sent out a postcard), to all of us who own all the equipment, to see if our permission to use the equipment is granted. Those with the desire to attach Iraq can ask congress if they can send the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, to do this, because Our Constitution allows for that. However, that is just the people in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. If they want to use our military equipment, which I assume they will want, be more affective with the attack, I prefer that they ask all of us taxpayers, first. And not just steal from us and use it whenever and wherever, without permission.

And last, but not least, some of the equipment I bought, does not do what the manufacturer said it could do. I want the receipt sent to me, so I can return that equipment for a refund, credit on a future purchase, or trade it for something that works.

For the amount money we have spent to date, (our money), in the attack of Iraq and the re-taking of Kuwait, we could have developed the hydrogen powered car, truck, bus, train, safe fueling stations, and setup a national distribution system; thereby reducing our country's dependency on oil forever, and we would not need to continue to spend our tax dollars on Oil Companies to keep the oil flowing and for Automotive Companies to continue to make petroleum-powered vehicles. If the old industrialists want to keep serving up the same old crap to the American consumer, let them rent our military to protect their own selfish interests in petroleum products. And we will find alternates to plastic and petroleum-powered vehicles. In other words, we will progress and leave that portion of the Ruling Class in the dusk choking on their own greed. Or, they can sell all their oil manufacturing, transport, and distribution assets, and go into the hydrogen-powered vehicle making business. I have all the confidence in the world, that this segment of the Ruling Class, who are certainly not stupid people, will be able to make a decent living, like the rest of us, in this new business too (less a few company perks, campaign donations, and their obscene political clout). What do you think?

Suggested Readings

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Jared Diamond, Ph.D

Liberating The Caged Human Animal by Dr. Peter Hercules M.D.