time to recall Eisenhower, and his
warning to us about the Military Industrial Complex
(and of men that assume because they have insignia
on their chest and shoulders, that that means they are more
important that the rest of us that pull our share
of the load) [my add]...
On January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave
his final presidential speech, which turned out to be his
most memorable by virtue of this warning:
"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."
And from Eisenhower's 2nd most memorable speech, "A Chance for Peace",
Soon after becoming president, Eisenhower gave his second-most-memorable speech, the "Chance for Peace" address,
on April 16, 1953. Stalin had just died, and the president sought to move the United States toward a less menacing
relationship with the USSR by proposing measures to promote greater cooperation and trust between the Cold War adversaries.
He highlighted the great opportunity costs of ongoing large-scale military preparedness.
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those
who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed"
This is why I call Eisenhower the 'last moral Republican', and as chance would have,
the ONLY Republican my father ever respected or voted for...
