In his Farewell Address to the American people in 1961, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned that:
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
(US defense budget: more about politics than national defense, May 17, 2005)
Yet since then every successive president has presided over such glutinous growth in America’s military industrial complex that the meshing of defense and peace has been rather like the serving of a Big Mac and broccoli to a typically fat American.
Good luck Secretary Gates.
Related commentaries:
US defense budget
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.