Assignment 9- Sam Ederington

As Salvor Hardin said in the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." The meaning of this sentence is that violence is the last resort, and incompetent people lack the means to resolve issues without violence, leaving it as their last option. Competent people, on the other hand, have no need to resort to violence because they can solve their issues through other means. War is violence between groups of countries or people. Thus, as per Hardin, war only occurs when two countries are incompetent enough to resolve their differences with each other. Is there a time for war? If you have failed every other option, than yes, if you recognize it is due to your failure as the leader of a country. War is never morally right, it is the useless ending of lives because people were unable to reconcile with each other. Countries never have a responsibility to go to war unless not doing so means even more harm to the entire world. There are always alternatives to war, that of course are more effective. Most alternatives don't require the deaths of multitudes of people, and instead involve diplomacy.