The Tea People have interjected yet another conspiracy theory into the public arena, and the action should bear some deliberation. I would like to begin a dialogue in the public about our perspectives on war and violence, and take a turn at changing the fear and loathing around to something more productive.

We waste far too much time swatting flies when we should just take the recyclables out and let the back room air a bit.

My generation had the Vietnam war. We were raised with explicit images of war. One of America's revelations on surviving the Vietnam War is that the draft system was an untenable arrangement, and the all-volunteer army prevailed to create the greatest war machine ever designed.

On a strictly historical basis, this would be a good thing. Might makes right when protecting yourself from foes, both foreign and domestic.

Until it was coupled with unscrupulous merchants. Our own Dwight Eisenhower warned the nation against the military industrial complex, and here we are, 54 years later, exactly where he said we would be. We have a military budget larger than the next 12 countries combined.

He knew both world wars and all the others of our history. In generations, we knew the Spanish War, before that, we knew the Civil War. Korea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Somalia, the list is too long. And all along the way the perceptions of these wars were given through the filters of those that lived through them. History is formed in the writing.

Is it human nature to war, or is it just economics? We now have two generations at war in the Middle East, as I count the first Bush's war along with the second Bush's fraud. No more did President Obama say he was drawing down the troops and the warmongers are pointing to Iran and North Korea.

In an effort to balance production and demand, smaller wars can be run with ruthless efficiency. Conspiracy theories pop up on a daily basis to feed the germ of violence in everyone who has one. The fear reaction is an easy stimulation, and more units are sold to the population.

More units are sold along with more fear. This current fiction of the patriot party is hard to take seriously, though. The U.N. is out to take us down. If this bothers you read up, and confine your searches to reputable sites.

Agenda 21 is too much like Area 51 and Car 51. It smacks of Men In Black, or, in this case, cerulean blue. It shows a lack of imagination. It's so ridiculous on the face of it, until I think about the people buying the dreck. Eating it up.

So who's worse, the people spouting or the people swallowing? Is it a matter of "worse" or "better" or can we be loving about this thing and look to the wounded, inner-child and heal the poor creature?

In my experience, the creature does not want to be healed. The creature attaches to the thrill of violence, the potential of power over life and death. Those in the Tea Party that foster these goofball allegations have already imagined the end result -- a civil war. There's something satisfying about the idea, else why would anyone gin up such nonsense? The bullied become the bullies, in yet another spiral of the human condition.

It's too late to argue about our civil rights against government intrusion, the Patriot Act is still in play, with overwhelming support from the Republicans. There's your drones. Evidently, Taxed Enough Already gives some exclusion for military force on our soil to combat Mexicans, but is not OK with drones flying over Ellis County, watching the free and the brave.

Never a thought of a peaceful way. Not one thought. The neo-conservative movement was opportunistic in the passage of the Patriot Act, until the power went to the wrong guy, but it's all a smokescreen for the economy of war. The groundwork is laid for this globalization of the war economy, it doesn't matter who's president. The job of fighting wars is part of the seat of power.

We said we're OK with civil war when we let the merchants of death invent the war on drugs. There's a war on the Hill, a war on Wall Street, a war on women. The culture wars. The Cold War. There's a war on Christmas.

Whatever happened to the war on poverty? Guess we lost that one.

Is it possible to gain peace? Where does peace start when the wars are so pervasive? Intellectually, it's a matter of perception, both public and private, and then it becomes a matter of education. Is this the end game of defunding public education?

I'll stand for peace and understanding. Am I as good as dead for my critical thinking skills?

Mary Hart-Detrixhe is a lifelong resident of the prairie and Ellis county. Her work can be found at www.janeQaverage.com.