What is it good for?- Braeden Bowen

Don't get me wrong: I'm a big proponent for diplomacy. An attempt should at least be made to prevent bloodshed; there are, however, instances where war is necessary.

The goal of war is to establish dominance. We fight for territory, ideas, beliefs, and our allies; no matter the reason, the victorious party in a war establishes superiority over the other.

Sometimes war is inevitable. In the case of both World Wars, an outbreak of absolute destruction (due to the increasingly delicate circumstances) was unstoppable. So was the American Civil War; due to the circumstances, no amount of talking could resolve the deeply ingrained divide in American society at the time.

Sometimes, as in the case of the American Revolution, war was necessary. In order to achieve its goals of independence, American citizens would have to fight, as words weren't working.

Sometimes, though, America tends to get involved in wars it shouldn't. For instance, we had no responsibility or obligation to fight in Middle Eastern countries to instill democracy; the US could barely scrap together a real reason to start a war there in the first place; in the years after 9/11, diplomacy was our best shot at resolving the issues at hand and still maintaining dominance.

War isn't what it used to be. Technology has increased one hundred fold in the last century alone. A popular subject of debate regarding war technology now is the issue of drones. Creating flying robots isn't the point where we crossed the line, though. Where the human race really went too far was in the creation of the nuclear bomb.

The nuclear bomb was (and probably still is) the most destructive thing humanity has ever created. With one bomb, America took an entire Japanese city off the face of the earth. Then, they did it again. War is sometimes inevitable, necessary, or even uncalled for, but when we go so far that we are capable of ending all life on the planet to establish dominance, we've gone too far.

And unfortunately, not much is being done to stop production of nuclear weapons; so too, not much is being done about handling war machines (automatic weapons, bombs, etc.), or dealing with people affected by war. Every day, 22 veterans commit suicide because of depression, PTSD, and other mental disabilities.

So maybe the issue isn't establishing dominance. Maybe it's figuring out what to do with it, and how not to take it too far.