OPINION: The Military Industrial Complex is Completely Out of Control; How We Go About Stopping It
WASHINGTON-- America's war machine doesn't sleep. It doesn't pause for elections, recessions, or empty promises from politicians. It just keeps feeding—on your tax dollars, your future, and the programs that actually keep Americans alive and thriving.
For nearly 250 years, Washington has found money for war. Somehow, there's always another conflict to fund, another weapons package to approve, another foreign military partnership to expand. But when Americans ask for affordable healthcare, housing, childcare, or food assistance? Suddenly, we're told there's no money left.
That's not incompetence. It's a choice.
This week, the Senate will vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual blank check that funds America's military priorities. The Trump administration, with plenty of help from Congress, is pushing a staggering Pentagon budget of more than $1.5 trillion—a 66% increase over last year's already bloated military spending.
One point five trillion dollars.
Meanwhile, over $1 trillion has already been slashed from healthcare and food assistance programs over the next decade, with even more cuts being proposed to housing, climate initiatives, education, and other basic human needs. Americans are being told to tighten their belts while defense contractors uncork champagne bottles.
The Pentagon has never passed a full audit. More than half of its budget flows directly into the pockets of military contractors like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. Yet Congress continues treating them like sacred institutions while ordinary Americans are expected to settle for less.
And buried within the NDAA are proposals that would further entangle the United States military apparatus with Israel's through expanded defense technology and intelligence-sharing agreements. At a time when Americans are increasingly questioning endless foreign entanglements and perpetual war, Washington is attempting to make those commitments even more permanent.
The war machine survives because most Americans feel powerless to stop it. That's exactly what the people profiting from it are counting on.
Don't give them the luxury of your silence.
Call the U.S. Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your senators. Tell them to vote NO on Trump's $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget. Tell them to oppose any increase in military spending and reject additional military entanglements hidden inside the NDAA.
Then write them. Post publicly. Tag them on social media. Make them answer for every dollar they choose to spend on bombs instead of Americans.
Washington wants this vote to happen quietly while everyone is distracted. The defense industry wants you to believe endless war is inevitable and military spending is untouchable.
It's neither.
The Pentagon isn't entitled to your paycheck. Lockheed Martin isn't entitled to your future. Congress isn't entitled to your silence.
The endless wars only continue because the American people allow it to.
Make some noise.