The Parable of the Congressperson and the War Movie

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, on Memorial Day Weekend, what do you see to be the next great war that will be fought?”

Josh spoke thus:

A congressperson was watching a movie about the Second World War.
“That’s the kind of war we need,” the congressperson said to an aide.
“I wasn’t aware that we needed any kind of war,” the congressperson’s aide said.
“There’s always some kind of war,” the congressperson said, “Our problem is we’ve got too many wars of the wrong kind.”
“What’s the wrong kind of war?” the aide asked.
“The war on drugs,” the congressperson said, “You can’t fight a war on drugs.”
“The war on drugs isn’t on drugs, it’s on drug dealers,” the congressperson’s aide said.
“Don’t call me stupid,” the congressperson said, “The war on drugs isn’t on drug dealers.  It’s on drugs.  We arrest drug dealers.  We arrest drug takers.  We arrest drug makers.  But every pharmacist is a drug dealer.  Every person with a headache is a drug taker.  Half the Fortune 500 are drug makers.  As long as there are any kind of drugs out there, we’ll never win the war on drugs.”
“And the war on poverty,” the congressperson said, “That’s a bad war.  We take money from people.  We give money to people.  We give money to people to give to people.  We give money to people to employ people.  They don’t employ people.  So we give more money to more people.  And there are still poor people.  We’ll never win the war on poverty.”
“And the war on disease,” the congressperson said, “That’s a bad war.  Every disease we stop just shows us ten more we can’t stop.  We stop polio, people die of malaria.  We stop malaria, people die of cancer.  We stop cancer, people die of A.I.D.S.  We’ll never win the war on disease.”
“And the war on terrorism,” the congressperson said, “That’s a bad war.  We can’t send an army against a terrorist.  An air force can’t stop a terrorist.  Bombing terrorists just makes more terrorists.  We’ll never win a war on terrorism.”
“What we need,” the congressperson said, “Is Nazis.  We need Maoists.  We need Stalinists.  We need Italy invading Abyssinia.  We need Japan invading the Philippines.  We need bad guys fighting good guys.  We need a goddamn army invading a goddamn country.”
“But isn’t stopping drug abuse good?” the congressperson’s aide asked, “Isn’t ending poverty good?  Isn’t eradicating disease good?  Isn’t stopping terrorism good?”
The congressperson replied, “Not as good as keeping our missile guidance system factory open.  Not as good as keeping our logistics software company contracts viable.  Not as good as keeping our gun barrel forges open.  Those people are big contributors to our campaigns.  Those people need a real war.  We need a real war.”