World War Which?

"We’re in the early stages of what I would describe as the third World War"
--Newt Gingrich, "Meet the Press," July 16, 2006

"This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no fooling around.
This ain't no Mudd Club, or C. B. G. B., I ain't got time for that now."
--Talking Heads, Life During Wartime"

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Newt Gingrich says the United States is involved in World War III. I don't disagree, but if we are in a World War, why aren't we acting like it?

If I am counting correctly, it's actually World War IV. World War III was the Cold War, in which the U.S. and its allies fought Russia and China and their allies, usually via proxy countries such as Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. World War III can be traced back to about 1945, when the World War II alliance between the U.S., Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union ended and we became rivals with the Soviet Union and its client states in Eastern Europe for world domination. World War IV, which Newt says involves dictatorships such as Iran, Syria, Iraq under Saddam Hussein and North Korea acting as terrorist states and/or harboring terrorists, mostly of Islamic persuasion, to threaten Western powers such as the U.S., Western Europe and U.S.-backed Israel, is just a few years younger. Gingrich traces this war back to 1948, the year that Israel was created by the Western Powers, after which Israel's Arab neighbors immediately attacked the new nation.

So, World War III and World War IV have been going on almost simultaneously. President Bush acknowledged that the U.S. is fighting World War III in a May 6, 2006 interview on CNBC when referring to the 9/11 attack and the "counter-strike" aboard UAL Flight 93. Along with the media, Bush also uses the term "War on Terror" to describe the current state of affairs. Bush routinely says that "we're at war" and calls himself a "war President." What I would like to know, therefore, is why Bush's U.S. government does not act as though we are at war.

Here are some examples of what the U.S. does when it is at war:

1. Conserve and ration resources that are crucial to the war effort, such as fuel, metals, tires and certain types of food (World War II).

2. Institute a military draft so that we have enough troops to do the job, and to spread the sacrifice in order that it not be carried completely by those at the bottom of the economic ladder (War of 1812, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Cold War [between Korean War and Vietnam War], Vietnam War).

3. Issue War Bonds and raise taxes rather than cutting them (Civil War, World War II), or at least keep them the same while we've bankrupted our Treasury spending $8 billion a week in Iraq.

4. Galvanize the country toward a great goal, such as the U.S. did in beating the Russians in the space race to put a man on the moon (Cold War). For example, a logical undertaking of Apollo Space Program-like proportions today would be a massive Energy program to wean the U.S. off of fossil fuels and the unstable, undemocratic dictatorships that produce them, which in turn could remove the U.S. from Middle East conflict and the current World War.

5. Focus our energies on fighting the actual enemy that attacked us (War of 1812, Revolutionary War, World War II).

6. Call for civilians to volunteer in civilian defense forces, factories and elsewhere (World War II).

7. Protect our borders and our ports.

Why is it that the U.S. is supposedly at war, even a World War, but we aren't doing any of the things that this country has always done in its efforts to win wars? Other than the brave and often poor and minority soldiers sacrificing their lives, limbs, livelihoods and families, why are the rest of us being asked to do nothing at all, except give up our civil rights and our First Amendment right to dissent, be subject to surveillance from our own government, increase our deficit, get tax cuts for driving massive SUVs and pay more to the oil companies for gasoline?