F-35 Lightning on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson. Photo: Seaman Derek Kelley, US Navy.

On December 14, the New York Times devoted its entire Opinion section of 14 pages to lobbying for greater defense spending. The NYT managed to do this without mentioning numerous strategic advantages that the United States maintains over its most important rivals or the strategic waste of resources in such programs as the Golden Dome national missile defense. The United States has become that militarized nation that President Dwight David Eisenhower presciently warned against in his farewell address 65 years ago. And mainstream media, even the vaunted New York Times, remains a strong ally of the Pentagon and the military-industrial complex.

We in the United States have created a land of illusion, and the mainstream media have helped in that regard as well. We have the highest medical costs in the world, and lack universal health care coverage that other developed nations have. Our costs for entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security are out of control, but there is no discussion of reform—even when there are simple adjustments that could be made. Our corporations and the wealthy pay the lowest taxes in the industrial world, but we adamantly oppose raising tax rates that could alleviate our deficit problem. Gun control is no longer discussed despite the regularity of massacres in this country. We have the most expensive and lethal military force in the world, but we face no existential threat.........

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