For Americans, the courage required today is not to defeat an empire abroad, but to confront one at home — the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex, writes Dennis Laich.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, on right, during Senate Appropriations Committee hearings in Washington D.C., on July 21 over the White House’s request for about $70 billion in supplemental funding to wage the war on Iran and replenish depleted weapons stocks. (DoW /Carson Croom)
By Dennis Laich
Eisenhower Media Network
The first sentence of Thomas Paine’s classic 1776 essay, Common Sense, urged the American people to challenge the legitimacy of the English Crown, something that had never been challenged before.
He wrote:
“Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them a great favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason.”
Two hundred and fifty years later, time and reason strongly suggest that the U.S. “defense” budget is out of control, unsustainable and absent of accountability.
Only the American people can rein it in.
The “defense of custom” in this case will come from the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex (MICC) of which President Eisenhower warned us in 1961 in his farewell address, and drove home the consequences of in his famous “Cross of Iron” speech in 1953. In his address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Eisenhower said the following:
“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 who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people… 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.”
All of these forces benefit by exaggerating threats to our national security which justify a huge U.S. “defense” budget, larger than the next eight nations (most of whom are allies) in the world combined, while American citizens lack health care, childcare and other basic needs.
The defense industry’s lobbyists team up with U.S. politicians, who receive campaign financing from the industry, to draft the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets military policy, the expensive weaponry to be purchased and the overall military budget.
The industry takes the ensuing windfall and puts it toward stock buybacks, which increase the share price, making the rich richer; dividend payments for shareholders; eight-figure annual compensation packages for corporate executives; and the continual political graft (campaign contributions and lobbyists) that keeps the wheel spinning. Incredibly, some contracts stipulate that only the contractor may repair and maintain equipment.
The most embarrassing example of this practice is the F-35 Stealth Fighter, which is grossly over budget, behind schedule and is only 25 percent fully mission capable.
F-35A Lightning II. (U.S. Air Force/Donald R. Allen/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)
The principal beneficiaries of the MICC’s practice of vastly overstating foreign threats are the Pentagon and the invertebrate senior uniformed bureaucrats who occupy it and secure lucrative post-retirement employment with the MICC.
The massive Pentagon budget provides the Pentagon with a premier position within both the government and society. Money talks in America, but few members of Congress choose to talk about the $39 trillion national debt to which military spending is a major contributor.
Unfortunately, the uniformed bureaucrats lack the courage to stand up against a draft dodger and a Rambo-wannabe in order to protect their profession or the institution of the military.
Government employees, including military officials, are fired for specious reasons and no one, not even those who were fired, dare speak up regarding the negative impact on morale, discipline and readiness. Nor do they speak up when the U.S. supports genocide in Gaza, extrajudicial murders in the Caribbean, or attacks the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.
These recent developments will serve to accelerate a decline in the U.S. military’s performance. Since WWII, the U.S. has won one war (the first Gulf War), lost four (Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran) and tied one (Korea). Iran may be as much an embarrassment as a loss.
The United States has failed to achieve its stated objectives in any recent war, despite having a military budget larger than the next eight countries combined and being easily the most defensible of any peer nation (with two friendly, stable nations to its north and south and oceans on its east and west). What football coach could keep his job with a 1-4-1 record?
The Pentagon. (Joe Lauria)
Additionally, the Pentagon cannot tell the American taxpayer where the money went, since it is unable to pass a financial audit as required by law — something every other department of the federal government is able to do.
Now, they are requesting a 50 percent increase in the defense budget to S1.5 trillion. This is equivalent to your child asking for more money a day after receiving his/her allowance. When you ask what happened to the money he/she received yesterday, the child can’t answer the question, but you give him/her more money regardless.
This represents a level of arrogance and incompetence that the American people should not be asked to tolerate.
Thomas Paine understood something that seemed impossible in 1776. On paper, the American colonies had no chance against the greatest empire on Earth. Britain possessed the world’s most powerful military, immense wealth, and overwhelming resources.
The colonies had none of those advantages. What Paine recognized as “common sense” was that wars are not won by budgets alone. They are won by legitimacy, purpose, and the willingness of a free people to defend their own liberty.
The $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget request represents more than S9,000 per individual taxpayer.
If we Americans are tired of seeing our tax dollars spent on endless wars, bombing campaigns, and military excess while our own communities struggle with the costs of health care, child care, education, and infrastructure, then the time has come to do what Thomas Paine asked Americans to do 250 years ago: challenge the assumptions that have become accepted simply because they are old. The courage required today is not to defeat an empire abroad, but to confront one at home — the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex — and reclaim a government that serves the American people rather than the interests of perpetual war.
Major General Dennis Laich, U.S, Army, retired, is executive director of the Eisenhower Media Network, an organization of expert former military, intelligence and civilian national security officials who have an independent, alternative story to tell.
This article is from the Eisenhower Media Network.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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One reason why the political elites like military spending is because it stimulates the economy but does not produce anything that would benefit ordinary people and thus re-distribute wealth.
Imagine you were to spend money on municipal housing, for example, well that would tend to reduce the wealth and income of landlords. But this ‘problem’ does not occur if you spend the money on missiles.
Since truly honorable Mr. Laich is an expert, perhaps he might like to pick up some of this:
Even if goal appears unrealistic for now-
It will be difficult to transfer the giant industry including all the connected «jobs», yet we must dare to work on it immediately.
There is really much to do to «repair», looking at the human made social and environmental damage in history and at present around the planet (including the oceans); let’s shift (almost in the first place) the global military budget (almost 3 trillion dollars per year) step by step within a 12 year time-frame towards regenerating nature and social balance (the other industries will follow).
Let those (military) guys and girls be «soldiers»/ stewards for a healthy planet and a socially stable society including all wonderful creatures.
That would be really great for national and global security!
And lets make them clean up all the poisoned mess/ time bombs, the military’s left or dumped about anywhere around the planet during and after past (world) wars. Dangerous work for many decades.
There is only one garden Eden, we very likely are ever able to reach ^^
The entire weapon industry (military- industrial complex) must be state owned and controlled for no monetary profit.
Just held for the really necessary defense needs. Not more than that!
And this can be probably done very well with just 10% of the present budget/ cost.
In the hands of a shareholders industry the profiting «elites» always will be looking for more profit every day and every year 24/7.
And if there is no conflict, they will create one at its «best».
They even are in for multiple conflicts, including mass murder as long as it is for their profits and power.
Again and again; always based on malicious propaganda spread by «government» agencies and allied media.
Accepting/ causing millions of civil deaths and natures destruction.
To start with, all armies on the planet could be asked to provide 9% of their personal and budget to participate in reforestation projects, instructed by corresponding biosphere specialists.
This is for the first year and unit.
These 1st forces could be called regeneration forces. And it would be a noble and important long overdue work for the sake of nature and man- kind.
11 steps to follow.
did you general,ever complain ,
All American taxpayers should consider joining us who support/coordinate with the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (hxxps://nwtrcc(dot)org). Defunding the MIC and ‘corporate welfare state’ is a moral & financial IMPERATIVE. Stop letting the AI-linked, Israel-first and/or MIC parasites rob you blind, and impoverish your loved ones! The D.C. ‘swamp’ views our nation as a tax farm – and sees us as cattle to be milked/slaughtered.
The parasitic, poisonous, polluting, profligate, propagandizing Pentagon is the world’s worst-polluting organization. Please see this interview and/or this documentary film:
hxxps://earthsgreatestenemy.com/
Earth’s Greatest Enemy – the second feature film project by Abby Martin, is a groundbreaking anti-imperialist environmental documentary.
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKtDJcDPvjc
Why the U.S. Military is ‘Earth’s Greatest Enemy’ (w/ Abby Martin) | The Chris Hedges Report
Jul 30, 2026
hxxps://citizenwatchreport.com/vietnam-war-edwin-starr-war-the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same-the-us-has-been-at-war-93-of-its-existence-when-will-we-learn/
Vietnam War • Edwin Starr – War: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME. THE US HAS BEEN AT WAR 93% OF ITS EXISTENCE! WHEN WILL WE LEARN?
March 15, 2026
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaohLqurHCk
Switzerland’s Most Feared Academic EXPOSES Nato War Lies | Dr. Daniele Ganser
Jun 7, 2025
Meet the researcher who exposed NATO so bad, even (formerly) neutral Switzerland is cracking down on him. Dr. Daniele Ganser is a Swiss Historian and Peace Researcher who gained an international reputation for his criticism on the US War machine and NATO warmongering, for instance with his books “USA: The Ruthless Empire” or “NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation GLADIO and Terrorism in Western Europe”
hxxps://www.mintpressnews.com/us-chinese-cyborg-soldiers-biotech-militarization/289559/
The Pentagon Is Using a Fabricated Chinese Threat to Build Genetically Engineered Soldiers
May 14th, 2025
By Kit Klarenberg / MintPress News
{mirrored here: hxxps://scheerpost.com/2025/05/15/the-pentagon-is-using-a-fabricated-chinese-threat-to-build-genetically-engineered-soldiers/}
hxxps://www.commonsenseethics.com/blog/war-is-a-racket-a-few-profit-the-many-pay
War Is A Racket: A Few Profit, the Many Pay
4/1/2022
Thank you for the good you do, and for the courage you demonstrate.
The corporations and their associated promoters and all of the world investing in them and the deficit spending always win. Those investors and hedge funds contributors of all sorts will not argue either in complicity. Perhaps the accumulated hereditary wealthy of all western empires stake a share for themselves.
lovely idea for billions of people on earth.
yet the very few who keep screaming:
“PEACE DOES NOT PAY!” still get their way.
Well, then, I guess we have to get smarter Julia and disrupt that pattern by putting our all into the movement to corral the very few into a much smaller pasture as we aim for making more peace.
The MIC cleverly put “defense” contractors in most congressional districts which means voting against a particular armament could eventually mean constituents lose employment.
What a sickening arrangement.
Also, it’s astonishing how Iran’s much, much cheaper arsenal of missiles has the entire trillion dollar plus Pentagon on the ropes right now.
Apparently it’s acceptable that war is good for business, so it’s OK for babies to die if a profit is to be made.
When will we turn swords into plowshares?
Excellent summary of MICC corruption of US government.
The US national debt since the 1991 collapse of the USSR is primarily discretionary spending on wars.
That is about $264,000 per household, about 15% more than the average mortgage balance.
Annual MICC waste will increase over 50% with the new NDAA, purely theft of resources.
The US could easily have lifted the poorest half of humanity from poverty, disease, and ignorance since WWII but spent less than one percent of its military budget on foreign aid. If we had done so we would have no enemies, no resource issues, and no blood on our hands. Instead our pseudo-democracy serves only as a veil for money corruption throughout government. The majority care only to “elect” a flag-waving scripture-thumping tyrant of the militarist factions: the MICC, the anti-socialists, and the zionists. We can only watch the demise of a former republic that failed to protect government from rising economic power and information power, and suffer the domestic blowback.
“We can only watch”….? You mean give up?
Good point. Actually I meant that the empire cannot be reformed in our time by accepted means without intervention of unknowns. We can be ready to restructure it, to take action when opportunity arises. I do not despair, as I am founding the Congress Of Debate (dotcom) as a source of balanced debates of all viewpoints on major issues, and as a structural model of democratic government.
‘Addicted to War’ by Joel Andreas:
hxxps://archive.org/details/AddictedToWar/page/n67/mode/1up
A 77 page perfect summary of the MIC.
how many people remember what common sense is,
when, via a-social media & co., they are bombarded,
day-in, day-out, with messages telling them what
to think, eat, drink, wear, tear and bear? AI doing
the thinking for them by now, by the way …
my country has shamefully made it into the 2nd column
of the next ten countries getting all warmongers and war
profiteers richer by the minute. its chancellor even dreams
of turning its army into europe’s largest, while housing and
health care, education, infrastructure etc. are just neglected.
i only hope that the numbers of those unwilling to become
cannon fodder will continue to constantly rise, as people
finally realize, among other things, that russia isn’t the threat
it is made to be, that a looming nuclear war is not winnable,
and that collaboration, not CONfrontation, is the way forward
for the many. whether the insatiably greedy few like it. or not.
As I was liking your thoughts, julia eden, I discovered I was hoping you are a community organizer or aspiring towards putting your good mind and hand to something comparable. Now, I’m wondering what a Town Hall meeting of rabble rousers for the Peoples’ Good – people in the same tribe that you’re in – would sound like and what kinds of actions such a collection of pearls of truth, insight, wisdom and umph would arise? Decades ago, I got so much out of consciousness-raising groups that what I harvested from them has made all the difference to my understanding, point of view and actions.
The Pentagon and common sense are galaxies apart.
The US will collapse under the weight of war.
Serves them right.
I think it might better be called the “Military -Industrial-Thinktank” complex, since those ostensibly “non-profits” institutions are one of the main places Congress members (their staffers, along with many executive staffers) hang out while their party’s out-of-power (another is of course lobbying firms, but they’re part of the “industrial” branch).
Can you even imagine the incredible paradise that we could create on earth if all the nations of the world didn’t spend over two trillion dollars a year on the preparations for war?
Indeed Bob. War is such a primitive action – less than numbskull level! in the 21st able-to-go-to-the-moon and polio almost eradicated sophistication, we’re determining who “wins” conflicts by smashing each other to bits. Why not – if diplomacy fails – determine a “win” by flipping a coin? or having representative horses win a race? or representative wrestlers? The climate, the nations’ financial stability, infrastructure, agriculture, human health and well being, and cultural health sustained and un-impaired. Why should society permit anyone to make wealth by carnage and death?