In 1953, President Eisenhower pointed out that a nation can become trapped in a state of fear where military demands keep expanding while public needs are neglected. This is happening to us now.
Eisenhower, the former commander of Allied forces in WWII, wanted people to realize, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies… a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
He said, “This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
Although the examples he gave are outdated, the trade-offs still apply: “The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than thirty cities. It is: two electric power plants, each serving a town of sixty thousand population. It is: two fine, fully equipped hospitals…We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than eight thousand people.”
According to the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Tomahawk missiles costing between $2.6 billion to $3.6 billion had been fired at Iran as of July 16. How much good could those dollars have done here in the U.S.? More money is spent on missiles as each ceasefire agreement dissolves.
Our government had spent $37.5 billion as of July 21, the head of the “Department of War” told the Senate. That money could have gone into health care, veterans services, child care, food assistance, drug cost supplements, scientific research, national parks…the list could go on, but I think you probably get the point that President Eisenhower was making.
— Tom Crider,
Southbury, CT
The Southbury Record 