Dwight D. Eisenhower on the consequences of war

[WTJ]

Lawl. I have a theory called the "Paperwork-Industrial Complex" which is about how there is a vast, loosely-connected group of employees that all have totally unnecessary jobs, and they just create useless paperwork while convincing everyone it's a necessary and vital part of business, because hey, that's their job!

Ever deal with someone at work that sends useless emails all day long, often asking you inane questions? Their boss is walking behind them, and they are saying "Yep, I'm sorting out some details of it with Mr. X and XCorp right now. I'm on it, sir." Overnighting of papers from some office somewhere that you don't need and just throw away, and they won't stop even after you request they stop? Paperwork-Industrial complex, man. Some person is looking busy by printing, organizing and mailing you that packet you no longer open.

You have just described a Bureaucracy! That's funny sthuff!

 

[WTJ]

As for The War on Some Drugs, where else is there a unaccountable amount of funding for 'black' operations? Petrodollars pale in comparison to the value of Narcodollars for a covert budget pool. When you need overt funds, make a withdrawal by seizure or asset forfeiture. That is a summation of the WOD in a nutshell.

On the other hand, most people don't realize the US Income Tax was enacted by Progressives in preparation for the loss of revenue created by Prohibition either. Another War on Some Drugs created by social engineering? Seems likely.

 

[MLRyan]

Lawl. I have a theory called the "Paperwork-Industrial Complex" which is about how there is a vast, loosely-connected group of employees that all have totally unnecessary jobs, and they just create useless paperwork while convincing everyone it's a necessary and vital part of business, because hey, that's their job!

Ever deal with someone at work that sends useless emails all day long, often asking you inane questions? Their boss is walking behind them, and they are saying "Yep, I'm sorting out some details of it with Mr. X and XCorp right now. I'm on it, sir." Overnighting of papers from some office somewhere that you don't need and just throw away, and they won't stop even after you request they stop? Paperwork-Industrial complex, man. Some person is looking busy by printing, organizing and mailing you that packet you no longer open.

I see this so much in the AF. We have civilians in our Group who check reports that they make us write monthly, and then shred them. Literally. Their job exist for no reason. It's even funnier because the whole system is more efficient when they go on vacation. Also, they pull 6 figure salaries to shred our reports. I guess I'm verifying your theory into a fact.

 

[RidgeHunter]

I submit that by '61 the American people were much the same, as a group, as they are now. A decade of prosperity and new shiny balls had dulled them into a state of torpor. I wonder if many of the citizen-soldiers who went through the horrors of WW II could bring themselves to believe that would ever happen again. The professional military had a new threat, and they did, like they always will, what they had to do to protect their charges. The politicians and elitists, however, saw a whole new wealth opportunity through fear, subterfuge, and propaganda. Hell, they had just vanquished the world champion of that league.

The people just never saw it coming.

I am a child of the professional military. I grew up on the top ten target list. My dad, while I was a little better than a year old, sat 12 hour shifts under a special weapon loaded B52 during November of 1962 in Michigan while his wife and kid sat on top of the first target to go, 90 air miles from Havana. I asked later,as an adult, what he was thinking during that time. He said he figured we were all going to die, but at least he would get his shot in. He was a maintainer and probably would have made it a few hours longer. I get the mindset and inherited some of it myself. I just never will understand why we would protect a bunch of people who haven't a clue or even care. You do what you must. Genetic programming? I will say my Dad, while a warrior, became disillusioned with the political aims of the Republic. And he remains so.

The elite made the sheeple just paranoid enough with Bert the Turtle to keep the money flowing, but not enough to make them confine themselves to quarters. That would have been counterproductive. The 15 minute myth was designed to prevent the inevitable gridlock caused by a evacuation. Early on many target areas had several hours of survivability after the first strike, and at most times during the Cold War the US had a good 72 hours of warning from intel sources.

By the time Ike left, he had realized he had been conned. He did his duty and tried to warn the public. Ike was sent away quietly, and Camelot was created. Let the next level of conditioning begin. Time for the next chapter of social engineering. All hail the 60's!

Some really solid posting from an interesting viewpoint. The fact you arrived here a few days after calling most scientists "chimps" is impressive.

I'll disagree with you in that it didn't take Ike until he left office to realize what was up. He railed against the same things the entire time he was in office. Chance for Peace speech with the Soviet comparisons came after Stalin's death - 3 months after Ike took office. I think he felt a lot of political pressure and watched a lot things occur in the defense realm during his time in office that he didn't approve of, and yeah, by the time he left office he probably did feel that he was conned in regards to the Soviets and the Cold War. For him to use the platform of his farewell address to speak that stridently about the subject was really telling. The 'ol boy was pissed.

 

[inactive]

He probably did feel that he was conned ... For him to use the platform of his farewell address to speak that stridently about the subject was really telling. The 'ol boy was pissed.

I agree. Remember (well I don't... as I'm not that old, but from what I studied anyway) that Ike was courted by both parties to run for President in 1952. He wasn't much of a political elite (well, as much as one cannot be when a West Point grad and 5 star General) and probably was a bit naive to the nuances and posturing of the political process. I bet there were a ton of people looking to attach themselves to and prey on him (meaning, use him as a vehicle to push their agendas) considering he was new to politics when he ran for president. That was his first elected position, POTUS.

 

[RidgeHunter]

Off-topic, but revisiting Ike speeches made me think of something. Notice how decades ago, when presidents addressed the public they sounded like they were speaking to adults, about "grown-up" things? Not just Ike, but many presidents/politicians of from that era or earlier.

Compare that to today, and every presidential speech has sounded the same for years - like they are speaking to children. "America is great; I'm great; the party I represent is great. You guys are great for supporting me. I want to have the opportunity to do more great things for you, because we're all so damn great."

There are no great ideas coming from presidents - nothing remotely intellectual, thought-provoking or even meaningful. Certainly nothing contentious or ballsy. Simple language and simple, innocuous, vapid, feel-good fluff. If you ran an Ike speech on TV today I doubt most people would even be able to follow it well enough to begin to comprehend it. We got dumb, kids.

 

[cjjtulsa]

We got dumb, kids.

Who is it here that likes to reply, "it's all part of the plan"?

 

[MLRyan]

I don't need to understand it...I can google it later. Right?

 

[Hobbes]

 

[cjjtulsa]

I don't need to understand it...I can google it later. Right?

Or, if we still had Dan Rather, we could be told what it meant after the speech. “Today, President Eisenhower said.......what that means is.....”
Don’t know how many times I heard him pull that after a State of the Union address.