I like Ike because although he was a military man, he knew how dangerous the power of profiting from wars could be.
Here’s a swatch from President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “see you later” speech to the American people. Now it’s 50 years later, and his words are still haunting, especially in light of how they’ve been ignored. Today, we’ve got us a trillion-bucks-a-year big business in defense!
Enjoy this liberal peacenik’s rant. One can only imagine what Ike would have thought of our military industrial complex today.
Agreed, Mr. Liberal Peacenik. This speech by Ike, along with his leadership in WWII and the Interstate Highway System, is surely one of his great legacies. Sadly, tearing down the Military Industrial Complex, even just slowing it down, is a political third rail as highly charged as Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. By the way, the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System, originally intended as a way that US military forces could be quickly moved around the country, is decaying rapidly due to lack of infrastructure funds. Conservative congressional representatives, principally newly elected members from the Tea Party, want a smaller, debt-free government where American exceptionalism will drive progress even though they’ve gutted the federal budget. Where’s the logic in that? Don’t get me started about the wisdom of cutting funding for PBS and NPR.
It’s sad to watch us fall. Logic and common sense go out the window as we chase boogie men and spooky monsters lurking in shadows.
Meanwhile, corporations bankroll candidates, lobbyists write our laws and the people wonder why things are as bad as they are.
Attacking the military industrial complex is a daunting task. The hippies tried it, and you don’t see them around anymore.
Groovy good point, Bill.
I’m going to get a haircut and keep my big yap shut.
The hippies failed, Bill, because they weren’t armed with Twitter and Facebook. Also, even though they were riled up, they paused too many times in the park to smoke weed.
The hippies also succumbed to the evils of rock ‘n roll music and tie dye patterns.
They had no chance.
Wait…are you saying that Ike was a hippy?
Ike was fighting the man, so yeah, I guess he was some kind of gone beatnik or a pre-dippy-hippie.