Think with Courage album
Think with Courage is an anti-war album. I believe in self-defense, and in the legitimate defense of our nation, but I am totally against the initiation of non-defensive war. It is our responsibility as citizens to think and question the call to war, and to examine the history and dynamics behind wars. We ask our soldiers to act with courage – it is our job to think with courage before putting them in harm’s way. The best way to support our sons and daughters in the military is to never go to war unless absolutely necessary.
On September 17, 2017, Think with Courage will be released on Facebook. This album has been long in the making, with most of the songs written five or more years ago. Sadly, the threat of unnecessary war initiated by our government is no less likely now than in the past.
In spite of the current highly divisive climate, there is one area that I believe most Americans now agree upon: only wars that are truly defensive in nature can be morally justifiable. The general inclination toward this common ground was signaled by the groundswell of public outcry against the proposal in 2012 to enter a war with Syria. The American people are tired of losing their children to wars that invariably over time are exposed as unnecessary and counter-productive. Those two descriptors are indeed understatement when applied to an endeavor as destructive to human life and dignity as is war.
Modern war entails more civilian casualties than military casualties, and involves unfathomable cruelties against civilians and soldiers alike. Unjustified war degrades us and our institutions in multiple unseen ways.
In war, truth is the first casualty. That part of government already characterized by deception and tyranny grows most rapidly under the veil of secrecy and disinformation. War is the path to a more powerful, less democratic, more intrusive and more totalitarian state. Constant war is the short path to tyranny.
We now have been constantly at war since 2002. Predictably, there has been a further metastasis of unaccountable government agencies. A pervasive infrastructure of surveillance has been created. J Edgar Hoover’s extensive dossiers, used for blackmail and political protection, are child’s play relative to today’s absolute capture of information on citizens. Our elected representatives are certain targets. We should be terrified of the extent to which the political process has been compromised by the threat of exposure and blackmail. Under this shadow of threat, there are many who aim to politicize and control every aspect of our lives.
In a society once famous for its ideals of liberty, free market competition and representative government, this politicized infrastructure of surveillance guarantees the opposite: the loss of liberties, economic failure, and oligarchy. To a far greater extent than Eisenhower feared, control of US foreign policy by the war industry and the deep state has become embedded in our economy and politics, and unduly influenced by domestic and foreign lobbies.
Interests vested in constant war lash out against the remote prospect of constraint, using timeworn propaganda techniques. At the same time, vast quantities of real information painstakingly unearthed by researchers, or exposed by whistle blowers and hackers, remain for the most part ignored.
We have been repeatedly duped into believing that we are under attack. The attacks in question are invariably provoked or misrepresented by factions within our government for ends that are not in our interest.
In unnecessary wars, in which our country is not under attack, Americans’ readiness to passionately defend their families have been repeatedly misappropriated. Young lives are stolen by lies and subterfuge, for political gain. Those lies become dangerous and taboo material, suppressed by those who led us into war under false pretexts. Those lies become history, and from that sanitized court history we fail to learn the proper skepticism toward war.
Don’t believe the mongers of war.
It is my hope that this album contributes to the necessarily constant effort to preclude unnecessary war. Please share with your contacts if you agree. When the marches come, it is too late. From this album’s title song, “Think with Courage”, lyrics I wrote seventeen years ago, are unhappily, more relevant than ever:
Think with Courage
Absolutely certain feels exactly the same,
whether you’re wrong or you’re right.
Now there are liars bold and audacious.
They’ll lie right through their teeth; they’ll lie with both their faces.
But the dangerous liars mostly lie to themselves.
And that shoe always fits everybody else.
The pen is stronger than the sword,
But Truth is the first casualty of war.
Lawyers, preachers, politicians love the Word.
You’re the one they want to do the thinking for.
The patriotic high ground gets claimed with a tear.
Our sons and daughters come home maimed, or burned.
Someone’s lobby bought your government’s ear.
How many times before we’ve learned?
So take this message with a grain of salt.
I just want you to think about it.
Things may not be as simple as we thought.
God gave you a brain, He won’t mind if you use it.
All I’m asking you is to think with courage.
All I’m asking you is to think with courage.
All I’m asking you is to think with courage.
Kent Scheffler
Think with Courage is an anti-war album. I believe in self-defense, and in the legitimate defense of our nation, but I am totally against the initiation of non-defensive war. It is our responsibility as citizens to think and question the call to war, and to examine the history and dynamics behind wars. We ask our soldiers to act with courage – it is our job to think with courage before putting them in harm’s way. The best way to support our sons and daughters in the military is to never go to war unless absolutely necessary.
On September 17, 2017, Think with Courage will be released on Facebook. This album has been long in the making, with most of the songs written five or more years ago. Sadly, the threat of unnecessary war initiated by our government is no less likely now than in the past.
In spite of the current highly divisive climate, there is one area that I believe most Americans now agree upon: only wars that are truly defensive in nature can be morally justifiable. The general inclination toward this common ground was signaled by the groundswell of public outcry against the proposal in 2012 to enter a war with Syria. The American people are tired of losing their children to wars that invariably over time are exposed as unnecessary and counter-productive. Those two descriptors are indeed understatement when applied to an endeavor as destructive to human life and dignity as is war.
Modern war entails more civilian casualties than military casualties, and involves unfathomable cruelties against civilians and soldiers alike. Unjustified war degrades us and our institutions in multiple unseen ways.
In war, truth is the first casualty. That part of government already characterized by deception and tyranny grows most rapidly under the veil of secrecy and disinformation. War is the path to a more powerful, less democratic, more intrusive and more totalitarian state. Constant war is the short path to tyranny.
We now have been constantly at war since 2002. Predictably, there has been a further metastasis of unaccountable government agencies. A pervasive infrastructure of surveillance has been created. J Edgar Hoover’s extensive dossiers, used for blackmail and political protection, are child’s play relative to today’s absolute capture of information on citizens. Our elected representatives are certain targets. We should be terrified of the extent to which the political process has been compromised by the threat of exposure and blackmail. Under this shadow of threat, there are many who aim to politicize and control every aspect of our lives.
In a society once famous for its ideals of liberty, free market competition and representative government, this politicized infrastructure of surveillance guarantees the opposite: the loss of liberties, economic failure, and oligarchy. To a far greater extent than Eisenhower feared, control of US foreign policy by the war industry and the deep state has become embedded in our economy and politics, and unduly influenced by domestic and foreign lobbies.
Interests vested in constant war lash out against the remote prospect of constraint, using timeworn propaganda techniques. At the same time, vast quantities of real information painstakingly unearthed by researchers, or exposed by whistle blowers and hackers, remain for the most part ignored.
We have been repeatedly duped into believing that we are under attack. The attacks in question are invariably provoked or misrepresented by factions within our government for ends that are not in our interest.
In unnecessary wars, in which our country is not under attack, Americans’ readiness to passionately defend their families have been repeatedly misappropriated. Young lives are stolen by lies and subterfuge, for political gain. Those lies become dangerous and taboo material, suppressed by those who led us into war under false pretexts. Those lies become history, and from that sanitized court history we fail to learn the proper skepticism toward war.
Don’t believe the mongers of war.
It is my hope that this album contributes to the necessarily constant effort to preclude unnecessary war. Please share with your contacts if you agree. When the marches come, it is too late. From this album’s title song, “Think with Courage”, lyrics I wrote seventeen years ago, are unhappily, more relevant than ever:
Think with Courage
Absolutely certain feels exactly the same,
whether you’re wrong or you’re right.
Now there are liars bold and audacious.
They’ll lie right through their teeth; they’ll lie with both their faces.
But the dangerous liars mostly lie to themselves.
And that shoe always fits everybody else.
The pen is stronger than the sword,
But Truth is the first casualty of war.
Lawyers, preachers, politicians love the Word.
You’re the one they want to do the thinking for.
The patriotic high ground gets claimed with a tear.
Our sons and daughters come home maimed, or burned.
Someone’s lobby bought your government’s ear.
How many times before we’ve learned?
So take this message with a grain of salt.
I just want you to think about it.
Things may not be as simple as we thought.
God gave you a brain, He won’t mind if you use it.
All I’m asking you is to think with courage.
All I’m asking you is to think with courage.
All I’m asking you is to think with courage.
Kent Scheffler