Mar 30, 2020 | Economy, Globalism, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
By the time this column is published we will be ending our third week of isolation denied the privilege of attending church, social and athletic events as the Wuhan China Virus spreads across the country. Restaurants are closed as are entertainment areas and the only populated areas appear to be grocery stores. Schools and universities closed sending their children and students home. Airports and airplanes are virtually empty. It is eerie. President Donald Trump asked groups assembling not to exceed 10 persons to inhibit the spread of this unseen “killer.”
What is most concerning is that last year 34,000 people died in the United States from the flu and the media outlets never said a word. Nor did they the year before, 2017-2018 season, when 61,000 died of the flu, likely a less number than will die of the coronavirus in the U.S. this flu season. Indeed, it is estimated that 12,000-61,000 deaths occurred annually from the flu in the U.S. since 2010 (“This Is How Many People Die From the Flu Each Year, According to the CDC.” By Claire Gillespie , Health, February 11, 2020 ).
Why is this a pandemic and those every year preceding it not also pandemics resulting in closing down the economy, air travel and schools? Why did the media not respond as hysterically to the H1N1 Swine Flu epidemic in 2009 under Barack Obama when it killed approximately 17,000 Americans—far more than the coronavirus is likely to kill? (“Swine flu has killed up to 17,000 in U.S.: report” Maggie Fox, February 12, 2010).
Is the establishment media responsible for this pandemic of fear? Not the disease, of course, new strains are expected, but the unprecedented 24/7 hype driving everyone into isolation potentially bringing about a recession just before a presidential election that can only hurt President Trump?
The Center for Disease Control, CDC, reported as of February 11, 2020, 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US. and no deaths. By March 25, 2020 that number was 60,881 total U.S, cases and 838 deaths so the spread in America is significant, and serious, but compared to previous years, not abnormal.
So what is the death rate? The UK places it between 0.5% and 1% and Germany “less than half a per cent,” also not comparatively abnormal (BBC News “Coronavirus death rate: What are the chances of dying?” By Robert Cuffe Head of Statistics, March 24, 2020).
The Atlantic in a March 22, article, “Red and blue America aren’t experiencing the same pandemic,” wrote of the “disconnect” between the two parties regarding the virus noting that “States with Republican governors have been slower, or less likely, than those run by Democrats to impose restrictions on their residents.” They observed that the same is so concerning rural verses urban communities.
But the real reason for the divide, not mentioned by the Atlantic, but noticed by virtually everyone on the right side of the political spectrum, centers on the establishment’s intention to remove President Donald Trump from office at any cost, thus far short of assassination. This might include the politicalization of a flu virus, heretofore taking thousands of Americans annually but hardly mentioned by the press—any press!
Republicans simply do not trust the establishment media. It has been behind nearly four years of constant coup attempts against the president and was responsible for hyping this virus to panic levels before a single American had the virus, certainly before an American death from it.
Let’s review these attempts. Three happened simultaneously before Trumps took office. Spygate and the Trump Tower wiretapping, Demonstrations in cities all over the United States flared up, presumably funded by George Sores, to refuse the results of the 2016 election with signs “Not My President” and finally, the Republican “Never Trumper” movement erupted. Once inaugurated the effort to get someone in his administration to declare him unfit so as to use the 25th Amendment to remove him followed. Then the Russia Hoax and the resultant 2 1/2 year Robert Mueller Investigation. This followed by disclosure of the FBI/CIA Coup attempt to unseat him, next the Ukrainian Hoax, followed by the failed Impeachment attempt. Nine easily documented attempts to remove him.
Trump endured four Congressional investigations, the Mueller and Horowitz Reports, each exonerated him, and the US Senate Impeachment trial acquitting him. Trump suffered more unjustified opposition/persecution than all U.S. presidents combined.
All major news outlets: MSNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the affiliates of the above, supported all the attempts to destroy this president, thus totally destroying their credibility with the right side of the political spectrum. All pipe the same hate Trump rhetoric. All are globalist establishment media outlets. All favored Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election. All have become the media arm of the Democratic Party. All panicked over the Wahun China Virus piping only hysteria sending Americans into hoarding and hiding and potentially causing unemployment in the millions, perhaps to destroy the economy before the election.
So why shouldn’t Republicans and Independents consider media overreaction—even weaponization—of the Wahun China Virus, yet another coup attempt to unseat their president? Establishment Deep State coverage of him is hostile no matter what he does.
Mar 23, 2020 | Constitution, Economy, Globalism, Immigration, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
This is my 551st column on liberty and the Constitution, I know no-one more published on this topic. I lived under 13 presidents of the United States, all gave lip service to the Constitution but none followed it closely. Of these I voted for only two Republicans. Those who least followed it were Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama. I spent a lifetime lecturing on these and the presidents before them. I dislike political factions (parties) as did George Washington. Readers know I call things as they are and defend the Constitution as written.
So with this background I am qualified to say, “Trump haters,” (Bushites, Clintonites, Romneyites, Holywood misfits, secret combinations in both majors political parties, coup conspirators in the FBI and CIA and finally fake news outlets notably MSNBC, NBC, New York Times and the Washington Post) who have conspired to take out Donald Trump. “Isn’t is time to lay down your arms?”
Four Congressional investigations, the Mueller and Horowitz Reports, and the US Senate Impeachment trial exonerated and indeed acquitted this man. Trump has endured more unjustified opposition/persecution than all presidents combined.
In the upcoming 2020 presidential election you offer only hate Trump rhetoric and freedom and prosperity destroying socialism. You are destroying the Democratic Party, perhaps America. You make Democratic President John F. Kennedy look far right. You offer nothing to build, strengthen or edify this country. Republicans before Trump were awful but you are much worse.
Please cease inspiring the crazies in our society to intimidate MAGA haters, innocent Catholic high school kids visiting DC, or worse, driving vehicles into tents housing Republican campaigners or shooting Congressman Steve Scalise while playing baseball with fellow congressmen and staffers. Cease supporting Antifa and MS-13 gang violence by not condemning them.
So what has Trump done for you that should command your respect? The list is extensive but let me identify in order my favorite six.
He defends the Constitution as written. Unfortunately Trump is a conservative, not a constitutionalist, but he follows the Constitution more closely than any president since Calvin Coolidge. He adamantly defends the 1st (religious and free speech freedoms), 2nd (freedom to protect oneself and neighbors—even from the government), and 10th amendments (states’ rights). No president has defended the rights of the unborn more than he. He nominated two supreme court justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, that appear to follow it and has placed, with Senate confirmation, 187 judicial nominees on the Federal bench who attest that they too will follow the Constitution as written. This is monumental as the Constitution is the reason we are free.
He opposes the globalist plan to first create regional governments of all nations, through trade deals that transfer economic, then political sovereignty, such as the European Union, then merge them into world government. He has made speeches to that end, on the campaign trail and even in the United Nations, which are never covered by the establishment (globalist) medias. His opposition to world government is, and always has been, why he is so hated by them. We have published on this before. Finally, the U.S. is first consideration in his “America First” pledge.. We are no longer nation builders or the world’s policemen. He wants to cut foreign aid (foreign welfare) spending it in the U.S. instead.
He stimulated the economy as no president has in decades. Manufacturing companies have and are returning to America. Almost 4 million new jobs have been created since his election. Reportedly, unemployment claims have now hit a 49-year low. African, Hispanic, and Asian American unemployment are at the lowest rates for decades or ever recorded, as are women and youth unemployment. He promised to dump two regulations for every new regulation but instead dumped eight. This returned companies to America, freed and stimulated the economy as never before resulting in an energy boom placing the U.S. as number one oil and natural gas producer in the world. Fifty-seven percent of Americans say they are better off financially since Trump took office.
He is securing our southern border. New agreements with Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras required them to stop the flood of illegal immigration through their countries, or face higher tariffs. Now deadly drugs and violent criminals are not flowing as easily across our borders and into our communities. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics 976 alien gang members were apprehended at the border in FY 2019, including 464 aliens affiliated with MS-13. ICE arrested 143,099 aliens in FY 2019, 86 percent of whom had criminal records.
He has done more than all presidents combined to expose and stop child sex trafficking. By executive order Trump declared it a national emergency Dec. 21, 2017. Just last year ICE arrested 2,197 criminals associated with human trafficking and freed 428 victims. To encourage other countries to meet more strident standards eliminating trafficking, he signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
He destroyed 100% of ISIS caliphate.
So Trump haters, you have been wrong on most everything the last three years. I too criticize Trump in print occasionally but isn’t it time to notice that he has been one of our best presidents and lay down your hate and arms? Others think so, his rallies now comprise 20% Democrats.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org
Dec 17, 2019 | Globalism, Liberty Articles, Take Action
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
With my new computer I receive unsolicited on screen messages from the Washington Post and New York Times, alerting me to news flashes they think credible and important for me to view immediately. The computer appears programed to do this automatically. But such represent an agreement with McIntosh that I should get very left leaning news first. Is this one of the subliminal message techniques Dr. Robert Epstein was speaking of in his July 16, 2019 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution?
In this hearing, evidence was provided that Big Tech, notably Google, and subliminal messaging techniques moved between 2.6 and 10.4 million votes to Hillary Clinton in 2016. Epstein predicted that in 2020 “if all these companies are supporting the same candidate [as they did in 2016] there are 15 million votes on the line that can be shifted without peoples’ knowledge and without leaving a paper trail for authorities to trace.”
The previous April the Subcommittee had questioned witnesses from FaceBook and Twitter. But any serious examination of Big Tech censorship would have to include Google. Subcommittee chair Ted Cruz summarized the depth of the problem. “Google’s control over what people hear, watch, read, and say is unprecedented. Almost 90% of internet searches today use Google. Google’s domination of the search engine market is so complete that ‘to Google’ is now a common place verb. With that market power Google can, and often does, control our discourse… Every time we search on Google we see only the Web pages that Google decides we should see; in the order that Google decides we should see them. Type a few letters into the search bar and Google will tell you what you should be looking for.”
He continued: “The same is true of Google’s subsidiary YouTube—the second most visited web page in existence…. And when you submit a video people at YouTube determine whether you’ve engaged in so called hate speech; an ever changing and vague stance meant to give censorship an air of legitimacy. This is a staggering amount of power to ban speech, to manipulate search results, to destroy rivals, and to shape culture.”
Not surprising Google’s parent organization, Alphabet, was the number one financial supporter of Hillary Clinton in 2016.
But Google power is world wide, Dr. Epstein told the committee. Google has a “massive surveillance operation, censorship capabilities and unprecedented ability to manipulate the thinking of 2.5 billion people, soon to be 4 plus billion.” We add, if unchecked it could come to control every human on earth. Presently Google’s closest competitor is Microsoft’s Bing at 2.5% of the market (Robert Epstein, “To Break Googles’s Monopoly on Search, Make its Index Public,” Business Week, July 15, 2019).
Dr. Epstein told the Committee, “I know how to stop Big Tech in its tracks.” He recommended two big changes. The first, because these companies support the same presidential candidate and can shift up to 15 million votes in their candidates direction, Big Tech must be monitored. Since 2015 he has been developing technology “to capture on-line ‘esemeral experiences’” which he tested successfully the next year and which has increased in sophistication each year since. He expects to be ready for the 2020 presidential race fully capable of catching “Big Tech in the act, to instantly spot when FaceBook is bias in newsfeeds or when Twitter is suppressing tweets sent by Ann Colter or Elizabeth Warren.” He added: “To let Big Tech get away with subliminal manipulation on this scale would be to make the free and fair election meaningless.”
Second, “Congress can quickly end Google’s world-wide monopoly on search by declaring Google’s massive search index, the data base the company uses to generate search results, to be a public commodity accessible by all. Just as a 1956 consent decree forced AT&T to share all its patents. There is precedent in both law and Googles business practices to justify taking this step which will make on-line search competitive again and dramatically diminish Google’s power or rise.”
Google already shares this massive index with the Netherlands based company Startpage this “in return for fees generated by ads placed near Startpage search results.” This makes Startpage an acceptable replacement for Google primarily because you get “great search results, but with a difference. Google tracks your searches and also monitors you in other ways, so it gives you personalized results. Startpage doesn’t track you—it respects and guarantees your privacy—so it gives you generic results.” Dr. Epstein also recommended DuckDuckGo “which aggregates information obtained from 400 other non-Google sources, including its own modest crawler” (To Break Googles’s Monopoly).
But Epstein uses the Startpage model to show what would happen if Google’s massive index becomes public property. Perhaps hundreds of other startups would in time surface restoring competition to the information arena.
Google has 16 data centers so Congress could only make public domain of the eight in the United States. Other countries where centers exist would have to do the same to break the monopoly. The European Union has five. Since they had to levy $8 billion in fines against Google in 2017, they might be tempted to be first to make the index public domain (Ibid.).
Free elections in any country mandates the free availability of all information.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Dec 3, 2019 | Constitution, Economy, Globalism, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
No one has been more outspoken against globalism than President Donald Trump. His “America First” platform is the antithesis of their plans for world government. This is the reason all globalists, Democrat and Republican, and all globalist mediums, especially The New York Times and Washington Post, oppose him at all costs. Hence the shock when globalists now praise Trump’s USMCA (United States/Mexico/Canada) sovereignty destroying replacement of NAFTA—seemingly a merged agreement of the worst parts of NAFTA and TPP.
Most Americans viewed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreements for what they were, sovereignty sucking packs to undermine and destroy the independence of nation states, as previous agreements had done in Europe resulting in the European Union. Globalists, funded by the financial global elites (from the Rockefeller’s to George Soros) had failed previous tries at world government, notably the League of Nations and the United Nations, and concluded that loyalty to nation states is the enemy to world government, hence their decades-old strategy of consolidating regions of the globe, first economically, then politically into regional government. These then consolidated later into world government.
Trump had billed the TPP as “the worst agreement ever negotiated” and three days after his inauguration withdrew the United States as a signatory and refused further TPP negotiations. He promised to renegotiate NAFTA as well. In the Rose Garden, October 1, 2018 USMCA rollout, Trump said, “Throughout the campaign I promised to renegotiate NAFTA, and today we have kept that promise,”
So why are the globalists so happy with USMCA? It looks to be a blend of the worst parts of NAFTA and TPP. According to the online Huffington Post, “At least half of the men and women standing behind Trump during his Rose Garden ceremony praising the new deal were the same career service staff who negotiated nearly identical provisions in TPP, which Trump had railed against.” One of these, Trevor Kincaid, the lead negotiator for TPP, said, “It’s really the same with a new name. It’s basically the ‘22 Jump Street’ of trade deals.”
Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the lead organization for world government and the most influential organization on foreign policy, in both major political parties the last hundred years, tweeted his praise for the agreement, “The USMCA looks to be the trade pact formerly known as NAFTA plus 10-20%. Hope it becomes a precedent for TPP.” Adding later, “What matters is that the US joins it.…” Haass, so enthused by the agreement, added the next day, “USMCA is NAFTA plus TPP plus a few tweaks. Whatever … TPP by another name.” No wonder. The lead negotiator of the agreement was CFR member Robert Lighthizer, who candidly admitted that the USMCA is “built on” many aspects of the TPP.
Christian Gomez, who spent considerable time with the 1,809 paged document wrote, “A side-by-side comparison of the USMCA and the TPP shows extensive overlap. Virtually all of the problems inherent in the TPP are likewise contained in the USMCA, such as the erosion of national sovereignty, submission to a new global governance authority, the unrestricted movement of foreign nationals, workers’ rights to collective bargaining, and regional measures to combat climate change” (What’s Wrong with the USMCA? New American, Nov. 2018).
So the globalist are happy. They thought under Trump their decades old efforts to unite the United States, Mexico and Canada into a regional government, economically first then politically, as they had the European Union, would be unraveled. Instead, globalists regained all their lost ground plus leapt forward into the areas of labor, immigration, and environment regulation, which agreement would handcuff the legislatures of these countries to regional law passed by unelected bureaucrats.
Gomez added, “The pact is even worse than NAFTA regarding undermining American sovereignty and self-determination, in favor of North American integration extending beyond trade to include labor and environmental policies. It is, in fact, so bad that the globalists who had lambasted Trump for renegotiating NAFTA praised him afterward” (Ibid).
So much for the Constitution or national sovereignty holding them back. And Trump fell for it.
The massive size of the agreement screams control. Liberty is defined by the limits of the government on the individual. The management of an entire country is housed in a Constitution of only four or five pages and a Bill of Rights of a single page—not 1,809.
A real free trade agreement could probably fit a single page and be noted for its absence of rules on trade—as it was in the early days of this republic. Let us instead disallow the rich from funding organizations designed to end our Republic, destroy the Constitution, or create a world government, all of which they presently do. Such used to be called treason.
Now there exists no evidence Trump really supports globalism except his USMC Agreement—everything else he has done demonstrates otherwise. He has clearly been duped. Getting him to disavow what he called “incredible” will not be easy but he must if he sincerely decries world government and supports America First. If not, he will be credited with instigating “the worst agreement ever negotiated”—a government over our own. And in time will be linked with the Rockefeller’s and George Soros as having helped bring about world government.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Oct 28, 2019 | Globalism, Liberty Articles
Harold Pease, Ph. D
Fallout from President Donald Trump’s pullout of 28 soldiers from Syria has brought globalist of both political parties to the front in opposition. Turkey used the pullout as an excuse to invade Syria in a centuries-old conflict between themselves and the Kurds who were paid heavily by the American taxpayer to help the United States round up the last remaining fragments of ISIS. With that done the rational for staying in Syria vaporized. Globalist networks did site as rational for withdrawal, Trump’s fulfilling a campaign promise to bring home American troops, but all networks, including Fox, failed to share the military industrial complex part of the story. This we share.
What Trump is about is the most massive change in American foreign policy in a hundred years. We will no longer fight, be wounded, die, and fund endless wars where we have little or no defensive interest. We will no longer serve as the policemen of the world or of the world governing United Nations. Globalists and globalism are out of power—at least in the Trump Administration.
This is the real reason for the three-year-long never-ending multiple impeachment attempts, started even before Trump’s inauguration. Why? Because this is the only president that could not be purchased, controlled, or at least managed, by Wall Street’s globalist special interest group, The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
If this is new to readers, hundreds, including previous columns of this columnist, have documented this organization’s globalist aspirations and the power it has had in all elections and administrations since its founding in 1921. The extent of one’s ignorance of this organization demonstrates the power this largely secret combination has had over education, all national medias and government.
So what did the globalist establishment medias omit from the news? That war industries profit from war, thus love war—the same message that President Dwight D. Eisenhower shared in his final address as president, January 17, 1961, warning of the dangers of the military industrial complex.
Globalists, often called the establishment or the deep state, prefer world-wide open borders, the eventual transfer of all political power to international levels, and eventually world government. National sovereignty is their enemy—thus their hatred of Trump’s America first policy. Patriots prefer freedom from excessive government, independence from any governing entity other than Congress, patriotism, and today, the Constitution as written. The choice is uncannily similar to the that of Americans in 1776 — liberty.
Trump told reporters who slammed him “for abandoning the Kurds” by removing 28 soldiers manning the border between they and the Turks. “We don’t have to fight these endless wars. Were bringing them back home. That is what I won on.”
Then he identified the real issue, “Some people—whether you call it the military industrial complex—or beyond… would like me to stay …They want me to fight forever. They do very well [financially] fighting. That is what they want to do, fight. A lot of companies want to fight because they make their weapons based on fighting—not based on peace—and they take care of [employ] a lot of people.”
Trump explained, “I want to bring our soldiers back home. We are not a police force, we are a fighting force. We are the greatest fighting force ever. I spent 2 1/2 trillion dollars over the last almost three years rebuilding our military. When I took it over it was an absolute mess. It was totally depleted.” Now, he adds, “We have the most powerful nuclear base by far in the world. We have things that we never had before.”
Continuing, “We have a great modern military but that does not mean that we are going to waste it. It does not mean that we are going to deplete it like we did before with these crazy endless wars. So, Turkey and Syria will hopefully work it out between themselves. Hopefully ISIS [prisoners] will be guarded” because “Russia, Iran, Syria, and, to maybe a slightly lesser extent, Turkey, they all hate ISIS as much as we do. And, it is their part of the world. We are seven thousand miles away (emphasis added)” (MSNBC Press Release with Italian President Sergio Mattarella. October 16, 2019).
On the same day in a subsequent press conference Trump added more, “We were supposed to be there for 30 days. We stayed for 10 years and it is time for us to come home. We are not a policing agent and it is time for us to come home .… The plan is to get out of endless wars to bring our soldiers back home. They are not to be policing agents all over the world.”
Russia and China do not have troops in other countries he argued. How many countries have American troops? “We are in 90 countries all over the world policing. And frankly many of those countries, they don’t respect what we are doing. They don’t even like what we are doing and they don’t like us.” By not having a military presence in 90 countries we will save tremendous amounts of money, manpower, and lives.
Trump is returning American sovereignty to America and all globalists hate him for it. They will do anything to destroy him. This is what the globalist media outlets have not shared. This omission was intentional.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Jun 24, 2019 | Globalism, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, P.h. D.
Since World War II America’s wars have never stopped. Why? We have become the policemen of the world with over 800 military bases world wide. Right now we have warships patrolling the Strait of Hormuz to prevent Iran from sinking more oil vessels. President Trump opposes world government and campaigned against “nation building” and “regime change.” He wants to bring our troops home.
In a recent interview with FOX’s Steve Hilton, Trump gave a remarkably clear and honest answer to the above question. “Don’t kid yourself,” he said, “You do have a Military-Industrial Complex. They do like war!” And he expressed his dilemma with this “complex” in Syria. “So I wipe out a hundred percent of the caliphate. I say I want to bring my troops back home. The place went crazy!! You have people here, in Washington, they never want to leave.”
Although Trump is not a globalist he is unduly influenced by them. Colonel Douglas Macgregor, author of Margin of Victory, essentially said as much when interviewed on Tucker Carlson Tonight, May 20, 2019. “The president by now understands that he is surrounded inside the White House and within the administration by people who are part of this bi-partisan globalist elite. In other words, the inner circle of advisors whether it is John Bolton or Mr. Pompeo from the State Department or any number of other people. Along with the general officers, the four stars and the senior intelligence operatives and officers, all of whom have risen to great rank over the last 20 years as a result of their participation in these strategic failures… are absolutely committed to stopping any change.” “They like war,” as Trump said.
So Trump wipes out the caliphate in the Middle East, the reason for our military presence there, and the “military industrial complex” goes nuts when he wants to bring home his troops. So we remain.
But fear of the “military-industrial complex” ( a marriage between globalist politicians, the military and the industry making war materials—each profiting from war) is not new. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of its danger in his farewell address. January 17, 1961. “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. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
How powerful was it in 1961? Eisenhower continued, “We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States cooperations — corporations …. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. … we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications” (https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/dwightdeisenhowerfarewell.html).
Do “grave implications” mean that once in a region like Europe, Japan, South Korea, or the Middle East our military never leaves. That is what Trump learned, “You have people here, in Washington, they never want to leave.”
Today Wikipedia documents US troops in “more than 150 countries” (The New York Times says 172—we have “troops in nearly every country”) around the world with thousands of military personnel still in many of the above named regions/countries 74 years later. Approximately a third of our troops serve outside the US in places most Americans have never heard of such as Aruba, Bahrain, Kenya, and Qatar. As noted, we have over 800 military bases encircling the globe all in the name of “our” national security.
Who are these people who never want to leave? No special interest group has had more impact over foreign policy the last 100 years than the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), leading many to question if we have but one political party in the United States with two arms. This is why, until Trump, there has been little difference in foreign policy between Democrat and Republican presidents.
They obtained their advisers, especially Secretaries of State, from the same globalist special interest group, the CFR. They all supported extensive foreign aid, policing the world, and continual wars without declaration or pre-established end. All supported international trade agreements that enhanced the power of the United Nations over the U.S. and exported jobs formerly held by Americans. All supported the bank bailouts and their management of the money supply through the bankers private Federal Reserve Bank and opposed its being audited. All supported problem solving on the federal or international level rather than the state or county levels. Presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden are CFR supported so these policies are not likely to change should they win the presidency.
So why do America’s wars never really stop, even when the enemy has been totally decimated as in the ISIS caliphate in the Middle East, even when President Trump wants them to stop? Because the military industrial complex (consisting of the military, war industries, and globalist politicians) profit or benefit from war as they have for nearly a century. Despite Eisenhower’s advice they remain a powerful secret combination in our government.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
