Imagine if we took 1/4 of that defense budget and poured it all into.. oh, I dunno… energy independence research and technology. We’d have solar powered tanks in no time! And we’d still be spending 4+ times more on defense than all other countries combined.
Energy and defense are irrefutably intertwined, so why not slip some energy funding into the defense budget with the goal of eventually making obsolete the expensive and never-ending quest to secure energy in the Middle East and/or Africa?
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower