WHAT THE US CONSTITUTION SAYS ABOUT THE MILITARY, SECTION 8
WHAT THE US CONSTITUTION SAYS ABOUT THE MILITARY
SECTION 8
“The Congress shall have Power to raise and support Armies, but no appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two years;
To provide and maintain a Navy;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”
GENERAL EISENHOWER WARNED AGAINST MAINTAINING
A STANDING ARMY
On Jan. 17, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower gave the nation a dire warning about what he described as a threat to democratic government. He called it the military-industrial complex, a formidable union of defense contractors and the armed forces.
Here’s an excerpt:
“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”….
“Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of ploughshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions.”
Former Secretary of Defense, Gates has also discussed the difficulty of cutting military spending:
“What it takes is the political will and willingness, as Eisenhower possessed, to make hard choices — choices that will displease powerful people both inside the Pentagon, and out.”
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/17/132942244/ikes-warning-of-military-expansion-50-years-later
