The Military Industrial Complex, sustainability, and us

I wish to focus on our next industrial/technological revolution, that being sustainability. There is incredible opportunity for reducing our dependence of fossil fuels, reducing our need for natural resources, creating a tremendous positive engine for domestic employment, and responsible stewarding of our environment for generations to come. Moving into this next exciting technological revolution will require citizen passion and commitment, ergo political will, and a redirection of financial and intellectual resources. So the question is where will the money, scientific, engineering, and manufacturing talent come from?
In reality we are spending over 8% of our GDP, ballooning our national debt, including direct Department of Defense, interest, veteran’s benefits, Department of Energy, Homeland Security, and subsidies to city and state law enforcement for quasi-homeland security issues. We are talking money, that could be better spent on alternative energy research, development, and implementation; all mostly domestic employment. Our attempt to improve health care has been a superficial strategy that is really about the welfare of the drug, insurance, and general health care purveyor industry, and ultimately Wall Street. Health care industry jobs and services usually improve people’s lives and create domestic employment. Our declining position as a modern country in the world is decaying in part due to our reduced industrial manufacturing sector and inadequate training and educational resources, as well as staying behind in finding ways to use those resources more effectively. Our infrastructure of roads, bridges, parks, inland waterways and levees are in need of major upgrading and improvement; all domestic employment opportunities that provide positive societal benefits.
The ultimate cause of the growth of the insidious destructive immoral Military Industrial Complex is corporate greed and our own amoral complicity. How many people who work in the defense industry would give up their lucrative jobs in order to support better humanitarian uses of financial and intellectual resources? How many of us will write a letter, telephone our legislators, write an article in a tabloid in protest of our misplaced priorities for defense? How many people are afraid to stand up to our government leaders because some of the electorate are apathetic citizens, indolent, or fearful of being labeled Anti-American, “Pinko”, or unpatriotic? How many people would support the closure of their local military base, even though it would mean a short term loss to local city or town’s economy? Unfortunately the economic tentacles of defense spending serve to enrich many people both in the public and private sectors at the expense of more important and beneficial stakeholders. So before we layoff responsibility on corrupt bankers, greedy defense contractors, and deceitful prostituting politicians we need to get our own ethical and moral houses in order. Are we really serious about peace, or do we just like to mouth the abstract words? If we choose to opt for short term economic gain over morality, how can we expect our own politicians to be moral creatures?
Falling behind in sustainability progress is a greater real security priority to our nation than the manufactured need for a bloated military killing colossus. There is a requirement in general in the interest of national security, that all military defense hardware be manufactured in America by legal citizens of this country, but in reality our domestic corporations are the major beneficiaries of this major economic charade. If we make sustainability a national security priority, all those employed in alternative energy, recycling, energy auditing and engineering, re-adaptation of energy systems, “Green Industries”, and anything else directly related to the above would have to be made in America by naturalized citizens. In reality death and disintegration will come to our nation if we do not have the energy resources, we continue to foul our environment, and we do not focus on all elements and stakeholders that add actual positive benefits to our society.
The structure of the military and its results are the antithesis of a sustainability model. The military is one of the largest single consumers of fossil fuels. The military is exempt from many environmental laws that govern civilian society. The testing and actual use of military hardware and munitions leaves devastation and environmental contamination wherever it is used. The inherent wastefulness and corrupt purchasing practices of the Pentagon are an example of the very poor use of financial, intellectual, raw materials and energy. There is no major single societal service or product that comes to mind that is less sustainable than the Military Industrial Complex.
America is incredibly resourceful and a “Can do” nation. When one reflects on how quickly we ramped up our engineering talent and manufacturing resources to produce liberty ships, planes, uniforms, munitions, and military base infrastructure and support for WWII; why can’t we use that same talent, focus, and energy to produce for the nations good, not destructive ends? It is estimated that over half of the scientists and engineers in this country are connected directly or indirectly to the design and production of military hardware. Just think of the good that could be produced by our society if a major portion of these talented people were used to support sustainability projects instead of murder and destruction?
Eisenhower remarked that "every gun that is made is a theft from those who hunger" – a bomber is two power stations and a hospital not built. I believe that we buy into the Military Industrial Complex fraud for greed, self interest, and a manufactured fear that we need major military security. When we spend money motivated by fear, be it for insurance, our military, emergency health care, or other reasons that may interfere with our thoughtful and rational thinking processes we are less mindful of the cost. After our initial invasion of Iraq typical gains in stocks for the defense industry increased at double the rate of non-defense stocks. If we choose to invest our money in killing hardware, how can we call our leaders and politicians immoral, when we in fact out of our own greed are equally complicit in our immoral economic decisions?
What can I do as an ordinary American to effect a change? Firstly think about selling all your investments in the defense industry and reinvest them in sustainability industries. If you are a member of a union or pension group lobby, I suggest you lobby your representatives to divest themselves of all investments of the plans in the defense industry, and reinvest in positive domestic industries. If you are employed by the defense industries try and seek employment in other industries, even if it requires a minimal pay reduction. Write your legislative representatives discouraging them from funding pork barrel legislation that funds war industries. If there is a convention in your area that is used to market military hardware, try to discourage your city from hosting it. If there is such a convention in your locale, organize a large group of protesters to draw media attention to the wasteful use of our countries resources.
Be active, encouraging your children and any students of college or high school age to stop military recruitment on campus, blocking ROTC programs, and generally resisting the expansion of the military in your area. If they show recruitment advertising, before the major movie in your local theater threaten the movie house owner that you and your friends will not be a continuing movie patron unless the misleading deceptive recruitment advertising is eliminated.
So believe it or not, we do have the power and ability, as ordinary citizens to create a peace loving mindset in this country and the world if we are truly sincere and manifest our passion. Do not forget that it was major protests in the 60’s and 70’s that brought the Vietnam War to an end. Apathy, cowardice, and inaction are more dangerous to a society than guns and swords.