When Eisenhower advised us to beware the military-industrial complex upon leaving office 47 years ago, not even the members of his own party seemed to take note. And so we end up where we are today, with military contractors as major employers (making it very hard to pass legislation limiting them… after all, it will effect employed voters), with outrageous amounts of money being thrown away on scams and misuse (see the Top Twenty Iraq Oversight Outrages as summarized by the Democratic Policy Committee) and with the need to enter even more wars in order to maintain a military economy.
It was an easier mess to get onto than it ever will be to get out of, since getting out of it will almost certainly cause an economic downturn on the scale of the Great Depression.
Unless, of course, we can promote a manufacturing economy which will deal with the necessary greening of the environment, can gain control again of what has been laughably called “free trade”, and can force ourselves to live on less of the unnecessary items we swamp ourselves with.
What are the odds of that happening? On a voluntary basis, very short. But, if we are forced into it, the results could be the thing that releases us from a dim future.
I go back to Eisenhower and hope it is not too late to listen.
