> A country does not exist in a political vacuum and has to be able to protect its freedom and the very right to exist Do you think that Eisenhower, a professi

> A country does not exist in a political vacuum and has to be able to protect its freedom and the very right to exist Do you think that Eisenhower, a professional soldier and 5 star general, doesn't understand that? You're not understanding / misrepresenting what he is saying in that quote. It's about the cost of a military and how it has to be balanced against the productive and social needs of a country. A country that is grossly over-spending on the military, as Eisenhower perceived it already back then, and particularly in the case of the US, when that military is used for force and power projection, not defence, is strangling the society that it pretends to protect. This has been the history of the US over at least the last 50 years (when Eisenhower made this fore-warning speech).