jamiroguy1 Posted December 1 Report Share Posted December 1 Eisenhower warned us (full article)Rise of militarism under George W. Bush puts America on the road to ruinBy JOHN L. GRAHAMProfessor of International Business, Graduate School of Management, U.C. IrvineIt was in an article in the National Interest in 1989 that Francis Fukuyama boldly asked if we had reached "The End of History." His notion was that free-enterprise democracy had finally defeated both communism and fascism. There would be no more real arguments about the best way to organize society. That was decided. But now, since George W. Bush's election, the ideological/political battle has begun anew. This time, it's free-enterprise democracy vs. militarism, and so far militarism is winning. This is so despite acclaimed historian Paul Kennedy's clear admonition about its perils. In his 1987 tome, "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers," Kennedy goes down the long list of countries that overextended themselves internationally and militarily and thereafter decayed internally. The story has replayed itself for at least the last 500 years - Ming China, Spain, Napoleonic France, Russia, Germany, Britain, Japan and the Soviet Union all fit the pattern. And now it looks like so will the United States.External over-reaching and internal decay define our day. Most recently we've seen not only another $87 billion for the "minor combat" in Iraq but also the calling up of 80,000 reservists. So now we've spent more than $150 billion on attacking Iraq - even though it was clearly never a direct threat to the United States. The connection to Osama bin Laden was never made. Given that the United States has a $10 trillion economy, we've spent more than 1.5 percent of our national earnings on a senseless military adventure. And we're not nearly done yet. Indeed, as we run out of reserves, how far away can a draft be?Full article (click here) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiroguy1 Posted February 19 Author Report Share Posted February 19 It’s too bad the Chickenhawks in Washington have ignored the words of this old soldier.Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first President I remember. I saw him as a doddering old bald guy; who played golf a lot, and suffered a heart attack sometime during his presidency. I didn’t have any idea of what he had done in WWII, nor did I care. Presidents were not really a top priority for me at that time. Since then, I’ve learned there was a lot more to Eisenhower, and that he had some very important things to say to America—then and now. • “We have arrived at that point, my friends, when war does not present the possibility of victory or defeat. War would present to us only the alternative in degrees of destruction.â€-- 1954• “We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United State corporations. 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. . . . 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.â€-- Farewell address, 1/17/61• “The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without.â€â€¢ “Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea. Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well.â€-- Farewell address, 1/17/61• “There is no way in which a country can satisfy the craving for absolute security, but it can bankrupt itself morally and economically in attempting to reach that illusory goal through arms alone.â€â€¢ “If all that Americans want is security, they can go to prison. They'll have enough to eat, a bed and a roof over their headsâ€-- as president of Colombia University, 12/8/49• “May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.â€Full Editorialhttp://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=647 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramadas Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 nice article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattbateman Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 gimme a breakPLEASE? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kramadas Posted February 19 Report Share Posted February 19 Originally posted by pattbateman gimme a breakPLEASE? Nope. I know the truth hurts, but its gonna keep coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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