It doesn’t have to be a “one vs the other” proposition. The military is only one of several instruments of national security, but for some reason we as Americans have a tendency to think that military exclusively equals national security. For those of you who want to win over the “hawks”, you can’t just make it a “military vs infrastructure/education/etc” issue, because with this simplistic dichotomy, the furthest you will ever get with the “hawks” is a stalemate. You have to bring it up to the strategic level. For instance, investing in civilian infrastructure can actually go a long way toward supporting the security of our nation and our allies.

There have been numerous historical precedents. Take for instance the Civil War; the railroad and telegram were two infrastructure projects that gave the Union the upper hand in re-supply and command/control against an enemy that was significantly more adept at tactical warfare. Another example is WWII; a significant factor in our success was our industrial might. Or the Cold War, which gave birth to our space program (with lots of spinoff benefits to society, like GPS) and even the Internet (which takes root from DARPA’s ARPANET).

Yes, Eisenhower warned of a military-industrial complex…but this didn’t mean he totally opposed investing in dual-use capabilities…capabilities that had significant civilian benefit as well as military application. His concern (correct me if I am wrong) was military arms development become the major impetus for decisions by policymakers. We need to present the case for prioritizing investments in infrastructure, etc, not only because of the domestic and economic benefits, but also in terms of how they ultimately actually support better security for our nation and our partners.

The military-industrial nexus grows stronger by the decade.

The military is in effect an alternative form of social welfare, since soldiers are overwhelmingly non-college and come from have-not families. Without the draft, it is in the interest of the military of this nation to keep a large portion of our population poor, because that leads to easy recruitment.

Social inequality feeds both the military and the market.

A shy point; it hasn’t even touched the word exploitation.

No such shyness at Left Blog.

As another military veteran I’ve got to agree with Edgy. Without a strong economy you can not have a strong military or at least not for very long. Just take a look at the the economic data that is contantly coming out. Huge government budget deficits, high unemployment rates, government funded massive entitlement programs, along with a massive government funded military etc. The United States used to be the biggest creditor nation. Now, its the biggest debtor nation. All of this sounds very much like how the Soviet Union ran things.

Also, I’d like to see more attention paid to the ways that the U.S. (and global) economy is controlled by a financial oligarchy, rather than by politicians.

And also, why do commentators and analysts shy away from discussion of the non-sustainability of population growth?

These three factors could well spell the annihilation of life on the planet.

We have to acknowledge that prosperity in US is a result of millions of serious unjust and unethical actions made by companies and high level politics. Well, “lawyers & money” can prove that 2+2 isn’t necessarily equals to 4.

Shareholders of biggest corporations have most US control buttons under their possession and Mr. Obama can’t do much…

The main problem of power owners is the endless “greediness”.

China will never be allowed to become a superpower. Mark my words,in less than ten years that nation wouldve been brokern into seperate confilicting states by western subdifuge, and western compaines will no doubt be falling over each other to access the free markets created there.
That will propbably bring a return to growth but it will only be a quick fix it all comes down to the end to simple physics.
Our future will poorer matrialisticly but i belive it will be a revolution in our hearts and minds that will get us through the transiton period into a more responsible world.