Rewriting History and Education

When a paradigm shifting new knowledge emerges it requires a lot of rewriting and re-educating to allow people to become familiar with the new world perspective that is needed.  Military Keynesianism is so deeply embedded in our common knowledge that is takes a lot of re-evaluation to correct the endless stream of misunderstandings.  It is fascinating to watch even the left-wing pundits of MSNBC parrot again and again that the one thing Trump has going for him is the good economy.  Other than Steve Rattner on the "Morning Joe" show few even bother to examine in detail how false that commonly accepted narrative is.  And they all fail to note that military spending changes are the main underlying explanation for much of the real true story.

Empire Themes

History tends to be anecdotal and biographical, often centered on the foibles of the individual person or individual situation and geography of the nation, terrain, or continent.  There is strong resistance to theory building that emphasizes consistencies in the origin and nature of war fighting and preparation for wars.  We want to think that human choice is in charge, not larger forces like economics and natural cycle timing.  We like to think we are masters of our own fate, not pawns in a larger framework.  We will cling to anecdotal exceptions to broader theories rather than accept the strong natural tendencies that override our individuality.  The empire concept allows us to examine how top dog elitism can permeate a culture and lead to the many ills that arise as an empire gradually decays under the pressure of relentless militarism and the dead-end military economy.

Climate Themes

It is amazing that something so common as evaporation differences between land and ocean can lead to profound shifts over time in natural events, economic growth rates, and evolutions in social structure that lead to historically changes of many kinds but especially in the timing of wars.  We so readily accept how are lives are changed by day and night, the four seasons, and evens social constructs like the week month calendar and year.  We live on a planet dominated by water and oceans in so many ways, with 71% of the Earth's surface covered by water and 67% water in our bodies and 91% water in plants.  Thanks to evaporation we can see our breath in winter and use sweat to cool our bodies in summer.  Lacking sweats glands, dogs use their wet tongues to regulate heat.  Humans seek sprinklers and cool bodies of water to cool off.  We locate our cities near water for these and many other purposes including ease of transportation.  Dehydration can kill us.  Lack of water gives us the high heat of our deserts.

Military Themes

The military is one of our most admired among occupations and institutions.  We cling strongly to this despite the chaos and arbitrary carnage and barbarity of war and war fighting.  Steady bravery in the face of death and destruction is greatly admired and rewarded with elaborate ceremonies and remembrances.  Peace Economics looks at the transference of these behaviors and corruptions to domestic politics, criminal conduct, and social disorders of many kinds that ensue from militarism and the demonizing of others leading to racial sexual religious and ethnic problems and discriminations.

Research Themes

This whole section is from the J.W. Forrester wiki:

Counterintuitive Behavior of Social Systems is a 1971 paper by Jay Wright Forrester. In it, Forrester argues that the use of computerized system models to inform social policy is far superior to simple debate, both in generating insight into the root causes of problems and in understanding the likely effects of proposed solutions.

Forrester characterizes normal debate and discussion as being dominated by inexact mental models:

The mental model is fuzzy. It is incomplete. It is imprecisely stated. Furthermore, within one individual, a mental model changes with time and even during the flow of a single conversation. The human mind assembles a few relationships to fit the context of a discussion. As the subject shifts so does the model. When only a single topic is being discussed, each participant in a conversation employs a different mental model to interpret the subject. Fundamental assumptions differ but are never brought into the open. Goals are different and are left unstated. It is little wonder that compromise takes so long. And it is not surprising that consensus leads to laws and programs that fail in their objectives or produce new difficulties greater than those that have been relieved.

Empire and Climate Economics in 2017 Presentations: https://www.academia.edu/32759407/EMPIRE_and_CLIMATE_Economics_ppt._29_slide_5_p._2017

Please cite this work as follows:  Reuschlein, Robert. (2019, September 2), "Themes of Peace Economics" Madison, WI, Real Economy Institute.  Retrieved from:  https://www.expertclick.com/NewsRelease/Themes-of-Peace-Economics,2019194356.aspx

Dr. Peace, Professor Robert Reuschlein, Real Economy Institute, Nominated Vetted 2016 (2 Web Looks), Given Odds 2017 (3 Web Looks), Strongly Considered 2018 (48 Web Looks, one million words) for Nobel Peace Prize, and a favorite in 2019 (double pace of last year: 106 Strong Web Looks in 11 months) for Nobel Peace Prize to be announced Friday October 4^th, 2019.

Contact: bobreuschlein@gmail.com,

Info: www.realeconomy.com