Mike Forster's Position Papers

"War" Is Overused for Ongoing Police Actions

Mike Forster, Palo Alto California
Copyright © 2002 Mike Forster

The term "war" is overused, and provides too simple a justification for government excesses.

The "War on Crime" and now the "War on Terrorism" overuse the term "war" in situations that are truly ongoing police actions.

There will always be crime and criminals. There will also always be terrorists who incorrectly believe that they are right in killing tens or thousands of innocent civilians for political or religious reasons. Certainly, we must continue to invest in minimizing such crime and such terrorism.

However, to label these "wars" is to overuse a term that can be in turn misused by government. As described in George Orwell's 1984 and recently in Gore Vidal's Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, the term "war" can be used to justify all manners of government abuses of individual and community rights.