Yeah, they are powerless to end it. It's bigger than them. As always.

Bearded Bruce had it right. The title of this thread is funny, because it might as well be, as he says...

"Keeping fish dry"

You can't make the Democrats honest. You can't make the Republicans honest. You can't make fish (living fish, that is) dry.

Why? Because "This support for militarism stems from the fact that the Democratic Party speaks for the same financial oligarchy as the Republicans...."

Exactly. Just like in Imperial Rome. The financial oligarchy runs the $ySStem and the $ySStem is founded upon making war. The politicians are just temporary errand boys and girls on the payroll of the $ySStem.

The only time such $ySStems are interrupted (for awhile) is when they go bankrupt or they lose a GREAT war to another such $ySStem.

Germans and Japanese know a lot about that from their own bitter experience.