Beck just read to us this speech, from which we all probably know the warning about the “military complex” but there was more to his warning. I had never read the entire speech and thought to post it on the forum.
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Thank you.
What, would you say, is the essential relevance of the speech now?
Our military is underfunded now to a dangerous extent.
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Thanks, Jeanne! Haven’t read it all yet, but here’s relevant quotes just from the first half. He warned:
“…a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.”
“…public policy itself could become the captive of a scientific, technological elite.”
“…the prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment…and the power of money is ever present and gravely to be regarded…”
All this has now happened.
The speech does contain some statements - notably the last two that Liz has selected - which have proved to be prophetic.
But on the whole I do not think it is a good speech at all.
The last paragraph is pure pablum.
Please point out anything of importance that I have missed.
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Jeanne - don’t you get irritated by Beck’s constant God bothering?
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This section is most relevant to our current status:
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
And then:
Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society’s future, we-you and I, and our government-must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.
A Military Industrial Complex is what we are stuck with for now, and it better get up to the task of defending our nation from threats abroad, including our borders.
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It was a farewell speech, Jillian…but mostly, it was a warning from our then out-going President. As is often the case, good elected leaders give warnings in their farewell speeches, as our first President did.
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I still do not think it was/is a good speech. It’s empty.
And as for us “plundering the resources of tomorrow”, why is a future generation more worthy than we of using the resources? We must meet our needs, they must meet theirs.
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No, Jillian, I do not. His faith is part of who he is, and our current situation…as well as the global situation…is driving him to speak more on his faith than he ever has before. I have no problem with that, since most of his audience maintains a certain amount of faith, and theirs has probably increased recently, as well.
As with many prayers that I have heard, I can understand the sentiment and the need and the warnings and the hope…and all without believing in their unsubstantiated supernatural being and its traits. Beck does not leave anyone out, accepts all faiths and none. He speaks to those who love the US, our Constitution and Bill of rights and believes in the ability of individual liberties, capitalism and private property to lift humanity to its greatest ability. That is the only litmus test for being his friend.
His show is hopeful for Americans, while at the same time, one of the most worrying…but, it all comes with good and practical advice and that thing I like most…Hope.
He is finally, just as very human as the rest of us. He knows his trials are the trials of many of his listeners, and speaks candidly about them. He has a terrific research team. He has been collecting historical original documents and items for decades to preserve and protect what is often the only proof of events in the world and also just the history of America. Mercury One does wonderful charity, rescue and crisis work. His podcasts are varied and interesting. His specials are full of proved facts and important to our understanding of history as it effects current events and our future. He has been right about what is coming even before 9-11.
I prefer his show to any other talk radio show out there and have been a member of The Blaze online site since its founding and especially since Rush’s death and O’Reilly’s retirement.
I trust Glenn Beck…but as he reminds us so often…I will also “do my own homework.”
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So you think “we” have only been “meeting our needs” with the federal and state spending during the 21st century? You do not think we have been saddling future generations with a tremendous deficit and with mandatory spending obligations?
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Do you really think that the “military-industrial complex” and organized centers of scientific research are the most serious problems we face?
We are losing our liberty. We have lost the rule of law. Government is becoming ever more tyrannical. The nation is overburdened with debt. China threatens us, not least with manufactured diseases. Islam is slowly dominating Europe, our major ally. The streets of our cities are occupied by drug-addicts and vagrants. Our children - survivors of an ideological program of abortion - are being sexually mutilated and sterilized. Our schools corrupt and groom them. Our universities are racist hellholes.
Eisenhower was a great general. As a politician, he is no longer of use to us.
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We are putting an enormous burden of debt on our descendants. Yes. Do we need Eisenhower to tell us that?
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And long may he continue to do all such good work.
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You’re right about all the overwhelming attacks that are being waged against civilization right now.
I think the relevance of Eisenhower’s speech is that he warned us of so much of it in advace, just as Orwell and others did.
It seems that none of the warnings did any good, though. His advice that “Our government must avoid the impulse…for…plundering…” was about as effective as Willy Wonka warning the little spoiled brats not to eat too much of his chocolate…
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No, Jillian, am I the only one that is getting at what Eisenhower was warning about? We are just interpreting this differently.
I did not write that the Military Industrial Complex was a serious problem, but what we are stuck with to defend our nation, so it needs to be good at what it does.
We are just on a different comprehensive plane, I guess.
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The point is that he saw the dangers we were moving towards and warned against them…in 1959. That is what good elected leaders do when they leave office; remind us what we need to do and warn against dangerous waters ahead.
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Exactly. And the fact that his warnings were so accurate shows that the gears for all of it were already turning, 60 years ago.
Not one damn thing was done about any of it.
It’s now become a vast, well oiled machine.
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Eisenhower: “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.”
Is the military or the “military-industrial complex” the power oppressing us? No. The socialist “Democrats” are.
The speech is not prophetic. It is no longer relevant.
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But the socialist Democrats (and Rinos) are corrupted and thus controlled by the “Military Industrial Complex”, and the “Big Pharma /CDC/FDA Complex”, Soros and the rest of the globalist oligarchs, the WEF, the CCP…
What he was warning of was the corruption of government, and isn’t that, after all, what Socialism has always been? An excuse used by corrupt government grifters to centralize power for “the common good”, but really for their own gain?
Are the Democrats controlled by the “military-industrial complex”? Our military now is not as strong as it should be.
The others you list are certainly trying to control … the whole world.
There’ve been better speeches warning of government exceeding its legitimate powers.
The problem forever with government as such is how to limit its power. That was the problem the Framers tried to solve. Did solve, theoretically. Gave the new nation a republic. Which it has not been able to keep.
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