"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society."
"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."
What would the modern conservative think of the man who gave the aforementioned speech? Would he or she embrace these words as words from an intellectual that recognizes a problem but knows that there are better means of addressing that problem? Or, would the modern conservative call this man a "lilly-ass liberal who has no idea how to defend a country?" Of course Rush Limbaugh, Dick Armey, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin would place this man one rung above Bill Ayers without knowing exactly who this man was.
I do not need to tell you that the man who made this beautiful speech is none other than President Dwight David Eisenhower in his final address to the nation. Eishenhower realized that allowing multi-national corporations like Blackwater and Halliburton, unfettered access to government funds would cripple this nation. First of all, corporations demand that they make as much profit as possible, so ending unnecessary war is not an option. And, secondly, privatization of government jobs is now a staple of Republican policy.
Whenever President Obama asks for more money for the military he is met by very little opposition in Congress. Even the Republicans who have vowed to block everything Obama wants, have no problem saying "yes" to large budget increases for the Pentagon. Never mind that military spending has become twenty percent of our economy (much more than Medicare and Social Security). The bottom line is, if you want to decrease the deficit, cut the military budget in half. We would still spend more on the military than any other country in the world by far. Right now, we spend more than the next seventeen countries combined. Fear keeps the money flowing.
Very few in the mainstream media question this spending. I was watching Meet the Press yesterday morning, and David Gregory was interviewing Joe Biden. Gregory was grilling the Vice President on spending cuts, wanting to know how the Administration was going to increase spending while decreasing national debt. This is a fair enough line of questioning and like all good politicians, Joe Biden side-stepped each and every question.
The fact that the Vice President gave preplanned, bullshit, stump-speech answers to a reporter's question is not what bothered me. What bothered me was the focus of the questions. The focus was on every Congressman's favorite enemy, "earmarks" (which is funny, because the same Congressmen that bash "earmarks" are the same ones that have no problem attaching them to legislation). To anyone who has passed fifth grade math, it is painstakingly obvious that if we cut all of the "earmark" spending we would save approximately eighteen billion dollars annually, and the national debt is approximately fourteen trillion dollars. This would be like trying to extinguish a forest fire with a garden hose. Not to mention that killing "earmark" spending would also kill the jobs that "earmarks" create and drive the middle class further into the " financial ditch."
Why isn't the focus on cutting our military spending? Almost every single time we have a budget discussion, the reporter and the politician having the discussion, mutually agree that the military budget cannot be cut or even discussed. They agree on this without ever talking about it. Since 2001 I cannot remember one single reporter (maybe Helen Thomas), asking the President why we aren't cutting military spending. It is the five hundred pound gorilla in the room that nobody talks about.
It makes even less sense that we wouldn't discuss our military budget when President Eisenhower gave us the OK to openly question it. What was Eisenhower dealing with at the time? We were attacked in 1941, fought in World War II, fought a war in Korea, we were fighting in Vietnam, and the Russians were challenging us with nuclear holocaust. He made the speech anyway (rightfully so), and it will forever go down as the warning nobody paid attention to.
Why isn't the word "Blackwater" met with the same disdain as the word "earmark?" Blackwater officials allowed their own employees to be assaulted and raped by other employees, and they refuse to do anything about it. They answer to no higher authority, not even to the United States Government who is currently paying them or the laws in the country where they work. Turning over Blackwater's duties to the United States military would cut the budget because Blackwater employees make triple the salary of a U.S. soldier doing the same job, and it would certainly be the moral thing to do. Why didn't David Gregory ask the Vice President about Blackwater? The question could even be a loaded one like, "Mr. Vice President, why is our military corporately controlled?" Even the quick witted Joe Biden wouldn't have a prepared speech for that one.
Even worse than the Democrats, who kowtow to corporations, are the Republicans who overwhelmingly and openly support the influx of corporations into our military establishment. For instance, just ask the thirty-eight Republican U.S. Senators that actually voted against legislation to ban corporations receiving government funds, from protecting the perpetrators of rape and sexual assault within those same companies. When I hear people claim that there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans, I like to point this fact out.
Why doesn't our news media ask important questions about real problems facing our country? The answer is an obvious one. The news media is corporately controlled and owned. How can we trust a news source to give us the "scoop" on their own bosses? We can't. We must do our own research and digging which is relatively easy to do, but unfortunately, Americans are too lazy to do it. Americans trust corporate bullshit that is disguised with the label "news." How do I know? Polls conducted of Americans called Fox News the most trusted news source in America. Yet, there are countless accounts of factually untrue statements and innuendos coming from the personalities and reporters at Fox News. Worse yet, when Fox News is caught lying, they refuse to retract their statements. They keep alluding to them as if they are fact. They will say things like, "Some people are saying that the President was born in Kenya." To which I reply, "Yes, it was the personality on your network I just watched twenty minutes ago."
In the mainstream media's defense they had excellent round-the-clock coverage on the "Balloon Boy" and the "Octo-Mom." But, when it comes to real news reporting, it has been left to the journalists with no access to the highest officials in the land. The questions now shouted at the President of the United States from a room full of glorified bloggers are all about what he is thinking and feeling, rather than what he is doing.
For example, instead of a good question like, "Mr. President, why is the Pentagon allotted over $600 Billion annually and the American taxpayer still has to pay for an additional $160 Billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan," the White House Press Corps asks something dumb like, "Mr. President, you weren't able to get a public option attached to your health care bill, is your Presidency over?" They treat the President of the United States like he is a high school student who got a math problem wrong, and they do it for ratings and shock value. If I hear one more mealy-mouth piss-ant in the news media talk about how great it would be if today's journalists were like Walter Cronkite, I am going to puke. If only they were in a position to do something about that!
The bottom line is fear and ignorance has kept the American people at bay. There is very little outrage after David Gregory completely throws the Vice President "softball" questions. The result is the military- industrial complex will be allowed to exist and flourish until the people begin to demand better. And, anytime you have to rely on the American people to do the right thing, you are going to fight one hell of an uphill battle.
