War is Business and Business is Good: the USA Rule

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President Dwight David Eisenhower, in 1961 speech, Warned Americans of the New World Order

In his farewell address on January 17, 1961, President D. D. Eisenhower said:

 

[Ladies and gentlemen, The President of the United States:]

Good evening, my fellow Americans:

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We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations.

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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 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.

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For the full length of this speech download an audio file from here:

To read the full transcripts of this speech go to: The Eisenhower Project

From: The homepage of the Eisenhower Project

“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.”

— Dwight David Eisenhower, Farewell Address

President Dwight Eisenhower was a West Point graduate, a victorious five-star general, and a Republican. Nobody in American history was better qualified to deliver this admonition.

Forty-seven years later, consistent, consequential adherence to Eisenhower’s call to action still eludes us, despite repeated and ample proof of his veracity. “Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can COMPEL…” COMPEL is what Eisenhower said, and he was in a position to know that nothing less forceful than compulsion would be necessary to maintain a proper balance between defense and the broad scope of our national priorities.

The Eisenhower Project will be attempting to help an alert and knowledgeable citizenry to organize in a manner whereby it can expand its numbers and exercise influence to the point where compulsion becomes possible.

This will mean re-conceiving the idea of an anti-war movement as non-situational — instead, to be a permanent, large-scale establishment, as suggested by Eisenhower, that opposes not “this war,” but the policies, practices, and influences of militarism in general. An active, vast, and permanent society — a new religion, if you will, that assembles regularly in every locale, has a meaningful community presence in all locations and endeavors, and coordinates at regional, state, and national levels for maximum effect. A religion that has as its mission to build, inform, alert, and activate the largest possible population to “compel peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”

Towards these ends we dedicate ourselves to the establishment of a National Peace Service that will function in the role of counterbalancing the power and influence of the armaments industry and affiliated governmental, political, social, and economic structures, and as ombudsmen for the interests of Peace.

This is our mission. If this is your mission, welcome to the Eisenhower Project.

If you want peace, make peace. Start the Eisenhower Project in your community. Click on “How to Get Started” and “Contact Us.”