Bumper Sticker Truth?

The first time I saw it was early one morning as I was leaving the Fitness Center to head to the office. It was proudly perched on a pick-up truck with a Piedmont College parking sticker on it. The bumper sticker read:
Except for Slavery, Fascism, Nazism, and Communism
War never solved anything

While I cannot begin to plumb the mind of the person who placed the bumper sticker on this vehicle, I feel it is making several points. First, it seems that this person is saying that sometimes nations must use armed force and put its citizens in harm's way to combat great evils and injustices. It suggests that sometimes great evils call for extreme solutions, even war. The second point seems to be that many great evils cannot be resolved except by the use of force. When the world was facing the evils of Nazi Germany or the enslavement of Africans in 19th century America, the sticker suggests, the only option available to end the evil was warfare. Third, the message of the sticker seems to affirm the principle of a 'just war,' a war undertaken by legitimate authorities, in a proportional way, to deal with evil, even though it does not differentiate between just and unjust wars. It certainly implies that wars to combat such evils as those listed are good. Fourth, it seems, according to the sticker, that the world will never again be oppressed by these evils - slavery, fascism, nazism, and communism -because they have been eliminated - "solved" - by the willingness of just societies to engage in wars.

I did not think too much about the bumper sticker when I first saw it, but I saw it again this week. That got me thinking.

I agree that the Civil War effectively eliminated the system of de jure slavery as practiced in the mid-19th century South, but did the war eliminate slavery? Nope. Not even close. According to a BBC report from 2007, as found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/ethics/slavery/modern/modern_1.shtml, there are more slaves in the world now than ever before, even though slavery is illegal in all countries. According to a March 25, 2008 Talk Of The Nation program featuring Douglas Blackmon, author of Slavery By Another Name and a Salon article from Thursday, March 27, 2008 featuring the book, A Crisis So Monstous: Face To Face With Modern Slavery by E. Benjamin Skinner, modern day slavery results in worse treatment for the enslaved than the 19th century Southern version.

So, did war eliminate slavery? No. Then, does the fact that slavery continues, and is worse now, affect the way we should view the morality and effectiveness of the Civil War; should it? Should we - can we - then use the case of slavery as a justification for wars?

The same is true for the other evils listed. Fascism, Nazism, and Communism still exist. Some forms have been eliminated, think Hitler and Mussolini, but the ideology remains and continues to affect people.

Now, I realize that it is impossible to present a nuanced opinion on any topic in the small space available on a bumper sticker. But, I feel this instance goes beyond an inability to present a nuanced argument in a limited space to choosing to present a "fully in error" position.

I am not going to rip that bumper sticker off the truck, if I see it again. I would wish, though, that, in light of the 5 years our armed forces have been in Iraq, our nation could engage in a real dialogue about when and how to enter into armed conflict and when and how to disengage.