The Military Industrial Complex

On January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned America about the dangers of the military industrial complex. Forty six years later, what Eisenhower described as “the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power” is very much alive. The idea that something so sinister and corrupt has been allowed to infiltrate the American way of life is appalling. What is even more disturbing is that the very people we depend on to lead our country are responsible. The very people we should be able to trust have decided that lining their own pockets is more important then protecting the liberties of the very people they are meant to serve.
But it is not only the leaders of today who have betrayed us. Every president since Eisenhower has been involved in the creation of the military industrial complex in some way. And the citizens of our country, who were forewarned and advised to be vigilant, suspected and did nothing.
It is the same way today. True, people have opened their eyes. Most have realized that the current administration is corrupt and that the war is not, as they say, for “Iraqi freedom.” But to an extent they are too trusting, believing that they will be saved by the 2008 election, and that the newly elected Democratic president will take us out of Iraq.
What people do not realize is that currently permanent bases are being built in Iraq. No one in the government, including the majority of members in Congress, plans on ending the war. Even if our next president ends active war in Iraq, we will still have a perpetual military presence there.
Also, as I have stated before, it is not only this administration that has become power hungry and corrupt. Since Eisenhower, America has been in 192 armed conflicts. Of these conflicts, how many of these were necessary? And of those, how many did we bring upon ourselves?
America has a history of getting involved in other people’s business. They always say it’s for freedom, when really it’s all about getting rich and powerful. We should know by now that the government does not care about the welfare of others, but only the welfare of themselves.
So, what can we do about it? How can we stop the obvious corruption of the American way of life?
The first step is to become more informed. We must dig deep to find the truth, to fully understand what is really happening in this country and what has happened in the past. We must also understand that we cannot depend on the mass media for these answers. Because the mainstream media is owned by large corporations with their own agendas, it cannot be relied on for accurate information.
With this information, we can fight back. Our leaders will no longer be able to look at us as a naïve group that blindly follows everything they tell us. They will be forced to do what they were meant to do, which is serve the people who elect them. Only then will our country truly be the land of the free.