He was definitely spot on with that warning.
The IKE years, for most who lived them, the happy days. If you weren’t alive then, sorry about that, nothing was the same afterwards.
“....In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
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Hi, jerod! The man had his head on his shoulders considering warning the American People... I realize he meant the Military at that time...got to wonder, though, what he saw and couldn’t reveal.... I think that was as clear a warning as he could give the American people at that time.
Don’t you remember all the “scientific” talk back in the 50s that blamed every extreme weather event on “nuclear testing”?
It’s quite simple - the less money government has, the less damage it can do.
Cut spending. Limited government.
With that, all the BS falls away.
That’s why we never had to worry about assassination early on. The government didn’t get in anybody’s way, unless you were a criminal.
was my tagline for about half of 2017 with a reference back to this speech.
I ran across THAT section of his Farewell Address a few years ago.
It follows immediately after the vastly more famous “Military-Industrial Complex” warnings that liberals love to quote.
Of course, they NEVER, quote the next few paragraphs.
Eisenhower’s exposure to the power dangers of scientists well connected to government must have come from his experience in government, for although he was chosen to head Columbia University after World War II, he was a largely absent leader as other activities, illness and additional military appointments took him away from Columbia more than keeping him there during most of the time he was nominally it’s predident.
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To Read Later
What Ike understood in his bones, after serving for 50 years in government, was that government was simply too big and powerful. At the turn of the 20th Century, government on all levels spent roughly 3% of GDP - so while there was opportunity for corruption, it was quite limited. Now think about there being 40% of GDP being spent by governments across the country - there is FAR more opportunity for corruption, and also a far larger constituency for maintaining a large and powerful government even among those who are not, themselves, corrupt (i.e. the useful idiots, many of whom are gov’t employees).
Ike was a true patriot, and a pretty smart and observant one, at that. His warning wasn’t strictly about the M-I Complex, but that was the one that the Leftards latched on to because they despise the military. They’ve been distorting this speech and its warnings for the last 58 years...the bastards.
I wish that someone could design a computer program that mimicked Ike’s thought processes, and have it make all Executive decisions. We could hardly do worse, over time (the present Chief Executive excepted, of course).
IKE was a wise president and far more engaged than his critics and the public recognized.