Slippery slope to war

Dear editor:

James Madison: “A standing military force … will not long be safe companions of liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home … Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all of Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.”

We have all seen nations that are under a military dictatorship during our lifetimes. The Founders feared a standing army which is why the Constitution does not allow a war budget for more than two years at a time. The U. S. is heading down a slippery slope if we don’t get our war hawks and this notion of perpetual war under control.

We are feeding the military- industrial complexes’ desire for more and greater profits at the expense of the rest of the nation and the world. This is the danger of privatizing war then allowing them to lobby for more business. We throw money at the Defense and Pentagon without asking where it’s going or how we’ll pay for it, while letting our infrastructure here turn to rot. We cut funding for education of children who are our future. We cut assistance to those in need, for what? More war? We spend billions just to spy on Americans. Benjamin Franklin said, “Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.”

Judith Zitko Hot Springs Village