America: Rogue Superpower

On January 1961 Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower left the Whitehouse with a warning for the American people about its future, during his farewell speech he said, "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." (American) Ike, a lifelong military man and the head of the Allied forces during World War II, was not just warning the American people about the military-industrial complex but was trying to motivate Americans to stay informed about our political system and its relationship with the defense industry.

Dwight D. Eisenhower photo portrait.

Lewis and Weldon Borland

[Portrait of Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Cecil Pa...

Now at the turn of the century Ike's warning has not only come to fruition during the last 20 yrs, but is now at its peak. The Bush Administration has announced its plans for a new National Missile Defense (NMD, is the planned missile defense shield that will protect the US continent from ballistic missile attacks from "rogue nations") program recommended by his Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the last presidential administration. This system would not only be a colossal mismanagement of American tax revenue, but also a serious waste of monies that the government could put to use in more important areas. Like Ike said 40 years ago "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...