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.

Most politically aware people are familiar with this portion of Dwight Eisenhower's

farewell address, where he cautions against the terrifying new accumulated strength of the American

armed forces. Forget that he directly oversaw the dramatic assembly of a nuclear arsenal that

would set the pace for the arms race, or was the first president to direct the CIA to undertake

covert operations that overthrew the democratically

elected leaders of both Iran and Guatemala. These are just details, do as I say, not as I do.

In many ways, Eisenhower was setting the stage for how the U.S. would operate ever since.

Two of the most blissfully ignorant American characteristics are selective amnesia and the

insistence that we are a force

for good in the world.

We're a nation that truly believes that war spreads peace, which is why we call soldiers

peacekeeping troops and not merchants of death.

We believe that if a tiny nation in Southeast Asia elects a socialist, then an invasion on

U.S. soil is imminent, and that democracy is something

you can force on a people, not something a people must choose. In other words, the opposite of

democracy. Are we just stupid? You bet. Just kidding. Not really. But we have a rather high and

misplaced opinion of ourselves in our role in the world.

So today, we are on fucking U.S. interventions abroad and illustrating how the United States

is the most violent nation ever conceived. Welcome back to unfucking the Republic.

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