February 16, 2015 6:37 AM

It's time for us to get our priorities in order

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 guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.

  • President Dwight D. Eisenhower

How is it that we can have something on the order of 1000 military bases circling the globe (It used to be said the sun never set on the British Empire; now it’s our turn)…and 66,000 structurally deficient bridges within our borders? How can we grant billions upon billions of dollars in aid to countries like Israel and Egypt…yet we have veterans of our wars sleeping under bridges? How can we engage in nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan…yet we refuse to countenance saving Detroit? How can we in good conscience fund a space program when we refuse to spend money educating our children? How can we grant tax breaks to the 1% as we refuse to extended unemployment benefits to the long-term unemployed?

There are so many of these questions and so damned few answers. We spend billions to support and build up the poor and needy in other countries, yet the idea of doing the same thing here at home is derided as “SOCIALISM!!” “Money for nothing!!” “Enabling the takers!!” As we look to assist the rest of the world- as we should- we whistle blithely past the dire and ever-growing needs within our own borders. Bridges crumble, sewers collapse, infrastructure slides towards obsolescence…yet somehow we never have the money to do what truly needs to be done. It’s the old “ounce of prevention vs. pound of cure” conundrum. We’re not paying for it to be done, but we WILL pay for it- in spades- when things collapse and we can no longer ignore the need.

When that happens, and it will given the path we’ve chosen, the costs will be staggering, immediate, and far-reaching in terms we can’t begin to comprehend. That’s not meant to sound like some sort of Doomsday preacher, but imagine the cost (and the chaos) that will ripple through our economy if a major bridge or dam collapses. Imagine the havoc that would be created if our electrical grid goes down, whether wholly or in part. These events are well within the realm of possibility…and they’re also preventable, if only we’d be willing to pay for the upkeep necessary to keep things in working order.

Unfortunately, infrastructure isn’t a sexy topic. Outside of the decidedly wonkish, it garners little attention and even less commitment to allocate the necessary resources…and so Nero fiddles while Rome burns.

Eisenhower warned us about the military-industrial complex and the damage it could do to society.

  • will.i.am

Dwight Eisenhower did indeed warn America about the dangers of the military industrial complex. It appears that he was nothing if not prophetic. We live in a world in which 52% of the federal budget proposed by President Obama goes to military spending, which in no conceivable way can be considered an investment in anything but the business of death and destruction. Military spending doesn’t feed children, it doesn’t care for the sick and and hungry, and it doesn’t keep our roads and bridges in working order. Instead that money goes into the pockets of shareholders in companies like Lockheed, Raytheon, and other multi-billion-dollar defense contractors.

The proposed federal budget means only 48% of total spending goes to items and projects that might have even a minimally positive impact here at home. Less than half of our federal tax dollars are going to programs that help build communities, educate children, feed the poor, and maintain infrastructure. We stand idly by while our military consumes more than half of federal spending during a time when we’re no longer “officially” at war. Unfortunately, no national politician would are think of proposing that military spending be repurposed to more productive tasks lest he or she be branded as “soft on terror” or “willing to gamble with the safety of the Homeland.”

There’s a very simple choice before us. We can invest money in our country- in our people, in our education system, in our infrastructure- or we can pay exponentially more when things begin to crumble…and they WILL crumble. It may be trite, but it’s true- an ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure. If we can’t find the money for prevention, where will we find the money to pay for the cure?

How long will we allow Nero to continue fiddling as Rome burns around us?

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on February 16, 2015 6:37 AM.

Well, I'm glad we cleared that up, eh? was the previous entry in this blog.

It's Monday, so enjoy some pictures of a naked Helena Bonham Carter embracing a tuna is the next entry in this blog.

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