Yesterday marked the 150th anniversary of Proclamation 86, by which Abraham Lincoln prohibited any trade between states remaining in the Union and those in rebellion. I.e., since the Confederate States were at war with the United States, residents of the latter were forbidden to buy or sell goods from/to residents of the former.
Now, you’d think that this would be decreeing something as obvious as “residents will obey the laws of gravity and not go floating up into the atmosphere.” I mean, when you’re engaged in a shooting war with a country, it seems counterproductive to enrich its treasury by purchasing materials from it and to support its combat capabilities by selling it technologies, food & supplies.
However, you would be wrong. Throughout the Napoleonic wars, it was the business of British businessmen to sell to France. And, of course, our servicemen and women are even now coming up against unfriendlies who are equipped & armed by goods manufactured and sold by Corporate USA.
Now, whether or not the business of America is, in fact, business—ah, no; the hell with it.
We really need another Proclamation 86, because it’s criminal that either directly (via straight sales) or indirectly (through US governmental aid programs), American companies are profiting literally through the pain and suffering of American soldiers. (And you'll notice that trade with the Confederacy was prohibited by executive order, not act of Congress. Even 150 years ago Congress wasn't going to interfere with a Godly profit.)
Of course, two things stand in the way of such a proclamation these days:
We’d need a President with the moral stature to tell businessmen to stuff it.
And we’d need to be able to define who, exactly, are our friends and who are not.
Not going to happen, is it?
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