I had no idea what I was going to make when I started. It seems now that it was an attempt at self-soothing or balance. I drew this while watching Eugene Jarecki’s movie, Why We Fight — a provocative, disturbing, multifaceted analysis of the U.S. military-industrial complex. There’s an interview with Jarecki via the link that will summarize the documentary better than I can. I learned that the term “military-industrial complex” was coined by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address to Americans. His warning, it seems, went unheeded.
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.
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 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 huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
–Dwight Eisenhower
You can read the entire speech here.
Hi, there,
I think I’d be a better person if I gave up my daily habit of reading ridicule blogs like Writer, Rejected and Passive-Aggressive Notes and read more stuff like your blog.
A nice resolution on my birthday, the beginning of a new year.
Happy birthday!
I’ll cop to occasionally reading trash too, like Perez Hilton, TMZ, and Go Fug Yourself. It’s a total waste of precious time and so I don’t always understand what motivates me (perhaps the fascination with a trainwreck phenomenon). Perhaps you don’t need to give them up entirely — just have very spare servings. 🙂
Yes, it’s exactly the trainwreck phenomenon. The big debate over at Writer, Rejected these days is whether it’s wise for the blog owner to ridicule agents by name. I can’t believe anyone would fail to take good advice, but she does, over and over. It was fascinating at first, but it’s getting stale.