1984

I've been reading Orwell's great novel about government control in the future(although Orwell's future was 20 years ago). Some of you may know of my brief stint as a singer in a metal band. Well they had a song about 1984 and it was always a big complaint that I never read the damn book, so I'm reading it. Well now I'm more than half way in and the thing that's bothering me is not so much surprise, I knew the plot before I read it, but how close it really does relate to our times. I just reached the point in the story with Goldstein's book about the resistance movement, and one thing really stuck out at me, the concept of war. According to the book, war exists to keep surplus goods from being distributed to the masses. So it works out like this(and please tell me I'm crazy because this really sounds familiar) given the increase in technologies and labor the total amount of usable goods will run into surplus to the extent that the general standard of living will increase to a point making it very similar to the standard of living of the upper classes, thereby eliminating the basest distinction of class structure, wealth. This occurance, would prevent government control of society because the amount of education earned by the lower classes would increase to a point making them too intelligent to be fooled. To prevent this, war is used. In the world of the book, only three major governments are in control. These three entities are unable to take the other over and in a sense no longer need to because within the confines of their own territories, goods are readily available. So war in the current sense is unneccessary because it is no longer important to control countries with particular resources. So war is meant to destroy or eliminate surpluses of goods to prevent those goods from being distributed equal enough to destroy the class structure.

Could this be the reason why we're at war for real? Is it possible that the economic strides of the nineties put the lower class at such a high standard of living that the wealthy were becoming concerned? Is that the reason why an administration was put in place to squander the surplus in somewhat unneccessary war campaigns to create the massive debts on those in the lower economic bracket? Is this why Congress has pushed bills to alter bankruptcy law so that it prevents middle class debtors from wiping the slate clean while it still allows for upper income brackets and corporations to do so? Is social security being put in jeopardy because the wealthy are trying to make sure that the outlook of the future for younger generations is bleak and uncompromising to prevent them from believing another way is possible? What do you folks think?