Sen. Bernie Sanders: Ike Was Right

Ike Was Right


"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 not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children." President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Washington, D.C., 1953

During the next few weeks Congress will consider hundreds of billions of dollars in military spending, yet this legislation will receive relatively little review and scrutiny. Spending by Pentagon officials continues to grow at an incredible rate and it is time for Congress to determine whether this level of funding makes sense. President Eisenhower, the five-star Army general who was the military commander of the European theater during World War II, laid out stark choices that he and the country faced during his first year in the White House. Fast-forward 48 years to the last year of George W. Bush's presidency, and it is remarkable how prescient Eisenhower was.

Today, President Bush's military budget is $515 billion, more than half of all discretionary spending. This is in addition to the $200 billion a year being spent on the war in Iraq, and another $16 billion spent on nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, as military spending explodes, the middle class in America is shrinking, poverty is increasing and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider. While we now spend $94 billion more on defense than three years ago, poverty and hunger are increasing, 47 million Americans lack health insurance and an entire generation of young people wonders how to afford college.

In his last budget, President Bush provided a very generous increase in funds for the military while proposing major cuts in programs which benefit low- and moderate-income families. At a time of real threat from international terrorism, all of us understand the need for a strong military to protect our country. However, the Pentagon cannot be exempt from Congress' oversight responsibility to root out waste, fraud and abuse. We must also demand a major improvement in transparency and accountability from the Department of Defense.

more...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/ike-was-right_b_102680.html

made off the military won't reside in the USA..if this was sex it would be called FORCIBLE RAPE AND SODOMY!! sans lubricant

It is immoral to profit from war.

the national interest to protect the country if 'honestly' threatened, so our citizens can get behind the idea? Don't lie to citizens? And don't wage occupations for financial gain while disregarding lives of everyone involved? I wish I could think lessons might have been learned, but I can't.

Right now the profiteers make money from blowing it up and then putting it back together, and then repeating the process over and over.

The government spends billions on R&D, which serves to increase the technology of the entire country, such as DARPA. I have no problem with equipment suppliers making money from their contracts. They deserve just compensation for their work. It is unfeasible for the government to build its own vehicles, armor, and guns. However, it is feasible to ban private armies and security services used in governmental capacities. We do not need Blackwater. The Corp of Engineers could easily supervise the reconstruction of Iraq. However, and this is a big however, companies that violate the national trust by providing shoddy equipment, shoddy service, or violate national and International law should and must be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Remove liability protection from companies that provide ineffective body armor, or construct buildings not conforming to US code, or exterminate civilians in foreign countries for shits and giggles. Profit should never be the motive for war... If it is a by product, then that is ok. WW2 brought the US out of the great depression, but we did not go to war with the Axis Powers for money or greed or hate. We went to war in WW2 because the basic rights of mankind were in danger. God I hate george bush.

YouTube - Eisenhower on the Military Industrial Complex

posted on DU's youtube forum yet, do you know?

K&R.

KANSAS, biatches! Where was Obama's mother from? KANSAS, biatches! that is all.

I hope she runs for Brownback's vacant senate seat in 2010.

these are the real issues facing us. The media concentrates on Reverend Wright, Hillary's "under-fire" landing in Bosnia, and McShame's age.... not the issues but the junk food. We need more people in Congress, electorate, and media that pay attention to the real events like war profiteering, torture, health care, a failing infrastructure rampant debt....
Thanks for the post babylonsister.