Originally Posted by willravel

Let's say that you have the biggest, most powerful military in the world. Againt you, no conventional military could hope to stand. You could even take on the second, third, and fourth most powerful militaries in the world at once and win. Let's also say that this military is massively expensive. It's so powerful that it's bankrupting your country. Also, the military spending is involved in a revolving door policy between the weapons manufacturers and politicans. In order for the manufacturers, and thus the politicans, to get madly rich, they need to constantly be increasing spending. How coud they possibly justify this in a time of war? That's simple. We seek out enemies. We even create them. We are in a constant state of conflict. But what happens when everyone is subserviant? What happens when we eventually nuke the ME, and China, and Europe? The we turn on ourselves. There has always been healthy descent among Americans because of free speech. I can go out and say that the war in Iraq is wrong, and no one shoots me (yet). Of course, now that it's legal to break the Geneva Convention, Habaes Corpus, etc. What does that mean? I can be arrested for protesting, and they can use ridiculous military and/or police force to get me.

Originally Posted by President Eisenhower

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

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. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.

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 Statehouse, 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 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.

Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

In this revolution, research has become central, it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.