Image by Sandra Seitamaa.

US military spending mocks global norms with such salacious excess that we might imagine our country as being in the throes of a perpetual addictive seizure. Our national binge has been stoked with a chaotic hodgepodge of threats that leave us jonesing for a harder hit – we tremble, in our hallucinatory fears, about China, Al Qaeda, MS 13 and Hamas, all lined up to storm US beaches from Coney Island to Big Sur. Voters have been so pumped up with the relentless backwash of media jingoism that a recent Gallup poll had 83 percent of the public opining that US military spending is “not strong enough” or “about right.” Only 14 percent of those polled felt that the US military is “stronger than it needs to be.” Recall that Donald Trump labeled a collection of bedraggled refugees seeking asylum at the Texas border – the majority being women and children – invaders requiring military force. We might think of Trump as an addled fool with no connection to reality, but he has read the room well – the longstanding US propensity to equate safety with military strength did not originate with Trump. Like with any addiction, the US has built up tolerance – withdrawal can only be assuaged with more bombs and planes to “keep us safe.” The world is a giant feedback loop – every dollar of US military spending buys more anti-American hatred. In keeping with the metaphor of addiction, many of us have embraced denial as a means of managing anxiety. Few of us confront the utterly bizarre, grotesque nature of our military fixation

The US fetish for gadgets of war uniquely sets us apart from all other nations. The US owns half of the 134 nuclear submarines menacing the future of the earth’s biosphere. America and Russia together control 90 percent of the more than 12,000 existent nuclear warheads – more than enough to cleanse the planet of living things. The US outspends the next top nine also-rans in its effort to hoard lethal military hardware and mobilize soldiers. Yet popular media productions frighten us with accusations of our lax military readiness for a Russian/Chinese invasion. The Heritage Foundation – the source of America’s planned transition to fascism- has issued warnings about the US tendency to deprioritize military spending. The ill-advised strategy of diverting military dollars to social spending, according to Heritage Foundation policy wonks, leaves us vulnerable to attack in an increasingly technological world of drones and AI that allegedly gives less powerful countries the means to destroy us.

Think of the US military industrial complex as a global aberration, a three headed frog, a crocodile with wings, a hybrid creature, half fish and half lion. We ought to gaze upon our “fighting forces” and deadly technology with open mouthed astonishment, but we rather regard our hypertrophied military with a shoulder shrug. In 2023, Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposed 10% cut to military funding was voted down 89-11 in the US senate. 40 Democratic senators balked at cutting the dangerously excessive US military budget by 10%! Military spending is never a presidential campaign issue other than as a performative competition for candidates to ritually confirm their obligatory devotion to maximizing armed forces strength. Democratic candidates may, from time to time, interrupt their confessed fidelity to second amendment principles just long enough to support background checks, but........

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