NAS Whidbey and the Destruction of the Commons
— Joseph Murphy —
It is a sun splashed afternoon as I pull down lane three at the Anacortes Ferry lot, having completed the monthly run to the city. It is a ritual encoded in Island life with the ferry serving as our portal to the World at large in all of its material offerings and spiritual challenges.
No greater offering for this Orcan exists than the transit of the Skagit Valley that such trips allow – a vestibule of bounty and beauty that, in all seasons, even in the dregs of winter, reveals itself in unexpected ways from white sheets of snow geese wintering in her fields to the humus richly turned blood dark by seasonal rains, to the brimming potato trucks bringing in the winter harvest .
As the nativity story of Buddha’s enlightenment has it, when the Big guy was confronted under the Bodhi tree by Lord Mara – the spirit of death, demanding to know who bore witness to this ascetic’s enlightenment, the Buddha merely touched the earth. No words necessary for the strength of Gaia was all. Big Mama had his back. Such is the lesson of gratitude taken from each transit of the Valley, each journey’s end down lane number three.
But lest I become too enraptured by pastoral reverie, the ferry lot often becomes a staging ground for the persistent incursions of Lord Mara. Beginning as distant rumble and steadily modulating into a thunderous mastication of sky so ostentatiously vulgar and so obscenely inflected toward every inhabitant of the realm that the rage invariably begins to mount; stoked by each gradation of Growler excrement poisoning the skies. A lifetime of reading poetry comes to fore in momentary rescue: a reflection on belonging offered at a high mountain lake by Gary Snyder to his son as a Navy jet hisses above.
“These cliffs and the stars
Belong to the same universe
This little air in between
Belongs to the twentieth century and its wars”
It is—absolutely contrary to the pious propaganda of the perpetual war state—NOT the “Sound of Freedom,” but the slavers bellow of subjugation spewing both from these death machines. Not the subjugation of only the residents of NW Washington but, Mores, THE SUBJUGATION OF A WORLD SUFFERING UNDER THE YOKE of American militarism and its grotesque Siamese twin, Imperialism. It is the rage of those relieved by drone or by meth-addled soldiers of the only property of value they will ever possess—their own skins.
For, make no mistake about it, inhabitants of this blessed realm, NAS Whidbey and their pork laden fleet of radar jamming, cyber-warfaring, armed to the air intakes aircraft is not interested in your property values, your health impairment, your sanity or your skins Their mission, plain and simple, is to support the next Imperial smash and grab – think Libya – hidden under the skirts of NATO, to “pivot” toward the Pacific in intimidation of China and Russia, to remind everyone within earshot of their obscenities who their Daddy is and, oh yes, to, as the inimitable Harvey Korman stated it in Blazing Saddles, “To keep their phony baloney jobs,” and all the Wal-Mart jobs they sanction in Oak Harbor. And, again let us be clear, if and when the citizens of the realm finally say enough, the next “pivot” will be toward a neighborhood near you. Ask not, to paraphrase John Dunne, for whom the drone trolls, it will be trolling for thee.
In seventeenth century England, as the British began ramping up the Empire, they began the process of subjugating the citizenry by fencing off the commons, those areas held as “freelands” by the English peasantry as a means of communal property and survival, as aesthetic and material sustenance.
As with all Empires from Persia to Twenty First Century America, expansion comes at great cost to the inhabitants of the Imperial transgressor as their commons are fenced off, their land stolen, and, now, their very atmosphere defiled by its markings. This evisceration of the spirit always masked as a charade of sovereignty and security.
A few decent writers – from Cicero in Rome to Hardy and Lawrence and Scott in England – have documented how that works. Or ask a Native American, next time you see one, how Empire worked out for them. The Indians at least get Casinos as partial reparation for Imperial genocide, we pale folk get ecocidal coal ports and cheap Chinese crap at Wal-Mart, along with blowback heroin for our kids who can’t find jobs. Nice.
I implore all with a voice: Whether your motivation be property values, silence, or love for the Earth and its inhabitants. All of them, Militarism is destroying our life here as it destroys the lives of those around the world. Don’t need no Growlers, no Wal Mart, no military jobs, no polluted skies. If I had a rocket launcher.
Closing down NAS Whidbey is an initial step in breaking the back of Empire. Militarism IS misogyny as surely as the drillers and miners who daily rape and call it a day’s work. Dismount Lord Mara, take back the commons of our single sky.
(In dedication to late Orcans and dedicated lifers of the anti-imperialist Left, Mary –Gibson Hatton and App Applegate. Presente!)
Bravo!!!! You do Mary and Ap a great honor. (I miss Mary, who was dear to me, every day.) Suggestions on how, and to whom, to make some noise, are welcome.
While we’re at it, let’s not forget that the deadline is extended to April 15 for the draft EIS on the whale-killing sonar testing and undersea explosions war games. Here’s that link: https://nwtteis.com/GetInvolved/OnlineCommentForm.aspx
Awesome!
Yes, Thank You! So well expressed! It is Beyond Time for We The People to Wake Up! It is Time for the People to go into our Core and find the courage to finally say “No” to the Bloated War Machine!
Our Mother, the Earth is dying and yet we do nothing. We keep giving our power away to “the government” when in fact, WE ARE the government. As Our Mother dies, so do we, her children and All of life (trees, plants, animals, the waters and the air). People are riddled with Cancers and other horrific diseases.
I, for one, want My Mother to survive and to thrive, but the only way that will happen is when We The People stop giving away our power to the Military/industrial Corporations and our corrupt Congressional, Judicial and Executive lapdogs who seize every avenue to enrich themselves at the Earth’s and We The people’s expense.
Mary Gibson and App Applegate must be Cheering us on from “the other side”!
Spirit Eagle
Giving up freedom has never brought about peace. Those who will not defend freedom become enslaved. The enslaved become oppressed masses that no longer have a voice. Because they no longer have a voice, oppressors are free to ravage the earth.
Reading this letter many times and the comments posted, as one who cares about the environment locally/globally and the well-being of all its inhabitants, I too seek a solution. I have read only letters and comments condemning the most environmentally conscious, freedom loving and defending country on the planet. PLEASE, help me to understand how a nation of freedom loving, environmentally conscious, equal rights for all peoples and beliefs sustain this without the might (military) to back it up and enforce it? Those who have written before me do so because they live in a society that protects those freedoms. Throughout the history of this planet those freedoms have only come through the protection of mighty. On every level of the animal and plant kingdom only the strongest prevail. Regardless of beliefs or desires the weak are overrun by the strong.
Feel-good phrases have never permanently changed the course of mankind from evil to good. Therefore, without destroying the good or maintaining it by force, how shall we overcome the evil? Without annihilating a great deal of the human race, how shall we maintain the ecology? Surely you are not suggesting we rid ourselves of the poor and defenseless to maintain ecological stability? The answer is very complex.
The Sound of Freedom is no longer those jets. It is a cash register. The whole world wants what we have. Blue Jeans, phones, cars, tv’s etc. As for NAS Whidbey, it was opened in the early 40’s when probably not that many people were around. It is time to move the base to a remote location. The base is surrounded by very high end real estate now. There would be a boom on North Whidbey if the base left probably bringing in more tax revenue than what would be lost. Property values would also rise. It makes no economic sense to keep the base there today.
So you, Harvey, would have our military and their families moved, out of sight and mind, so that you and others would not be forced to be reminded of what they do for you and your family?
Yes, the Prowlers, and other aircraft, are noisy. Let me tell you what that noise means. It means, to a skinny a.. kid, and his team, stuck in the middle of a kill zone, the sound that means you just might live to see the dawn. The Prowler is modeled on the A-6 Intruder. Both the A-6 and the old, prop driven A-1 Skyraider, were lifesavers to many of us up country in RVN. I’m here, in part, because a crazy pilot in an A-1 flew low and slow and got our team home. And you want to move their proud succesors to some place out of your sight? I’m old school Army who proudly salutes those crazy Navy fliers who got all of us home safe.
I believe it is in our country’s best economic interests to shift from militarism to peace-building. (I realize some large corporations will likely disagree.) I believe it’s an idea whose time has come. It’s very practical. With the equivalent of 2% of the military budget, we could create a Cabinet-level Department of Peacebuilding. Though creating slightly more government, its work would profoundly decrease wars and other forms of violence domestically and internationally, saving our country (taxpayers and future taxpayers) billions if not trillions of dollars, and saving many thousands of lives. It would also allow our spirits to heal from the unspeakable violence our military and contractors have wrought, in our names, on civilians in other countries.
Also, with a system of “Just Transition” modeled after the G.I. Bill which has put so many former soldiers through school, we can create hundreds of thousands (or millions) of jobs in life-affirming fields of work, thus ending our need for military jobs. Currently, we have an economic draft. So many who enter the military do so because they can’t find other jobs. Our jobs have been outsourced to other countries. Let’s create new domestic jobs. One field with huge potential is energy efficiency. We could be putting people to work at a living wage, energy-efficiency retrofitting every home, school, business and house of worship across the U.S.
I appreciate having the freedom to speak my mind in our country, acknowledging that exercising it may come with a price. We use the word “freedom” a lot. It packs an emotional wallop. It seems that freedom is often not equally distributed, and I think we need to talk about that. I would like to see a national discussion about the word “freedom,” what it means to us individually and what its ramifications are in terms of corporate profits and the ecology that supports our health and our lives.
I don’t believe that our military is “defending our freedom” as individual citizens. It may have at one time; I don’t believe that’s been true since 2001. I have heard military people say that they are “defending our interests.” I have found myself asking “What are our interests?” and ”Whose interests are we really talking about?”
Here on Orcas I have heard the Growlers. The sound and vibration are very disturbing, at least in part because I know what I’m hearing and the potential for violence they create, funded by our tax dollars. I would rather that my tax dollars funded strategies and practices for a more peaceful, compassionate, generous world.
I appreciate much about our country. But there are issues we need to address, courageously and respectfully. I believe that the future of human life on Earth depends on us doing that, and doing it very soon.
Anyone up for a discussion?