Sorry Vietnam, You Should Have Made a Deal with Wal-Mart

The Vietnam War is likely one of the most horriffic events in modern history. The battle waged on for almost 3 decades in different forms, millions of lives and acres were destroyed, and the evidence that led to American involvement is hazy and best. Yet even today we are told that stopping the spread of Communism was the reason for the Vietnam War. Yet everytime I drop by Wal-Mart and see the airplane hanger's worth of cheap shit I can buy from Communist China I have to stop and think: was that really what it was about?

The Vietnam conflict raged on in some form or another from 1948-1975. It was mostly small levels of violence for the first 15 years, eventually heating up with American full involvement in the early 60s. When the war was completely over the body count was staggering. Over 59,000 American soldiers were killed; many thousands of South Vietnamese and other ally soldiers dead as well. The count for dead civilians in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos totaled nearly 5.25 million. In 1975 this was accepted by many as the price tag for preventing the spread of Communism.

What About China?

China is a communist county. This is not in question. Not only is it a Communist county, it is well known internationally for its authoritarian stance on freedoms and the rights of its citizenry. This is a classic example of the exactly the type of Communism that was the subject of the Vietnam War. But we hardly treat China in the same manner.

We have very large amounts of trading with China, as do a number of other major western democracies. Several American corporations serve as powerful distribution systems for Chinese goods. Most well known amongst these is Wal-Mart, but several other major retailers like Target, Best Buy, and Toys'R'Us also have massive quantities of Chinese goods. Plus, there is even talk about opening trading with the Chinese and their emerging auto industry.

The Difference in Times

With that in mind, what does it feel like to be a survivor of the Vietnam Conflict (on either side, military and non) in an age when another country with the same governing dynamics as you becomes a major world economic player? What is it like to have a friend or family member who died for the exact same conditions that allow companies like Wal-Mart to operate now? How do you tell someone that lost a husband, a son, or a father, that being able to pay $35 for a pair of shoes that would otherwise cost $40 invalidated the reason that their loved one gave their life? Would a trading deal with a big box retailer have saved the entire need for the war? Could a store like Wal-Mart have been like Oscar Schindler and saved over 5 million lives?

Both of these countries were Communist yet the reaction by the US could not have been more different. The American reaction to Vietnam becomeing Communist was something akin to "let's kill them"; the reaction to the same situation in China was more along the lines of "finally, some cheaper sunglasses."

What if we play out the scenerio of this idea not changing? Let's say that we were to react to the spread of Communism in China in the same way that we did with Vietnam. Given its size and population, it likely could have required us killing roughly 125-150 million Chinese to preserve democracy. Sure, it seems evil to think about in abstract terms. But surely it was more evil to actually kill the 5+ million that we actually did kill in the Vietnam war.

Are we really a country that won't maintain that same level of political convicion because there are significant economic ties? If this is true, and all evidence points this way, then those principles that led us into the Vietnam conflict were illegitimate. They were not true convictions, they were political and personal agendas that led to the death of millions. They were the pet projects of monsters.

When he returned from the war and began to coordinate other veterans that were agains the Vietnam conflict, John Kerry asked the question, "How do you ask a man to be the last person to die for a mistake?" But how do you ask a man to be the first one to die for a sale? Our culture's selfishness means we have to look every dead soldier, civilian, and child in the eyes and tell them, "Sorry, you should have made a deal with Wal-Mart."