ABSTRACT
During the Persian Gulf War, President Bush announced that people were approaching the "New World Order." It is becoming clear that part of what is meant by this phrase is that the United States is to become a permanent garrison state and also the world policeman, under the cloak and command of the United Nations or North Atlantic Treaty Organization or some other regional alliance. Since the end of World War II, some presidents and their representatives have claimed that the constitutional limitation providing that only Congress can declare war is archaic and no longer applies. This chapter explores certain long-term costs of American wars in general, but of three wars in particular: the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I. The abolition of slavery, which occurred after the Civil War, was a great step forward for individual freedom, but the abolition of slavery was not the true purpose or fundamental cause of the war.
