Buffy Sainte-Marie – Universal Soldier lyrics

Even though most of society is not in favor of war, most people will still buy stock in a military contractor, or go to work in the defense industry. They just shrug their shoulders and stop thinking about it, because that's what is expected of them. But if we just stop supporting war with our actions, and be an example for others, then maybe it will come to be seen as a more viable option for others in the future.

Where the lyrics read "a Jane", it sounds be "a Jain", a highly ascetic variant of Hinduism. I think that including Jainism is a very odd pick for the lyrics, as they are undoubtedly the most non-violent sect on earth. To protect insects (who may be reincarnated souls), the gently sweep any bugs away in their walking path with rustic brooms, wear masks to prevent swallowing insects as well, and consider self-denial, like choosing starvation to the point of death, as the noblest of Jain values.

The line "Without him how could Hitler have condemned "him" at Dachau" makes no sense, grammatically nor in the context of the song. The correct reading, grammatically should be "How could Hitler have condemned "them" at Dachau", meaning that as one individual, Hitler could not have achieved his nefarious goals if there were no soldiers to carry out his orders for extermination. The line "Without him Caesar would have stood alone" reiterates the concept. I have yet to see a website or even the "Buffy Sainte-Marie Songbook" that gets this right.

Buffy Sainte-Marie is from the cree tribe who valued warriors over all others - oddly she does not mention that.

As hunter-gatherers, the basic unit of organization for Cree peoples were the lodge, a group of perhaps eight or a dozen people, usually the families of two separate but related married couples, who lived together in the same wigwam (domed tent) or teepee (conical tent), and the band, a group of lodges who moved and hunted together. In the case of disagreement lodges could leave bands, and bands could be formed and dissolved with relative ease, but as there is safety in numbers, all families would want to be part of some band, and banishment was considered a very serious punishment. Bands would usually have strong ties to their neighbours through intermarriage and would assemble together at different parts of the year to hunt and socialize together. Besides these regional gatherings, there was no higher-level formal structure, and decisions of war and peace were made by consensus with allied bands meeting together in council. People could be identified by their clan, which is a group of people claiming descent from the same common ancestor; each clan would have a representative and a vote in all important councils held by the band (compare: Anishinaabe clan system).

Each band remained independent of each other. However, Cree-speaking bands tended to work together and with their neighbours against outside enemies. Those Cree who moved onto the Great Plains and adopted bison hunting, called the Plains Cree, were allied with the Assiniboine and the Saulteaux in what was known as the "Iron Confederacy" which was a major force in the North American fur trade from the 1730s to the 1870s.

When a band went to war, they would nominate a temporary military commander, called a okimahkan, loosely translated as "war chief." This office was different from that of the "peace chief", a leader who had a role more like that of diplomat. In the run-up to the 1885 North-West Rebellion, Big Bear was the leader of his band, but once the fighting started Wandering Spirit became war leader. Hippies.