Campaign Finance, the Military-Industrial Complex, and Me
So, the other day, I was really considering donating to Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign.
[I will now pause while Dad, Mom, and Doug finish their spit take. ... Okay.]
Then I ran across this one point, which made sense once I thought about it:
This contribution is not made from the treasury of an entity or person who is a federal contractor.
I don’t think that it’s much of a secret that I work for an aerospace and defense contractor. And I’m with Ike:
A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction…
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. 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.
It is because of this that I am proud to not donate to Obama. But he is getting my support.
From:
http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/citizens.shtml
Federal Government Contractors
Federal government contractors may not make contributions to influence Federal elections. For example, if you are a consultant under contract to a Federal agency, you may not contribute to Federal candidates or political committees. Or, if you are the sole proprietor of a business with a Federal government contract, you may not make contributions from personal or business funds. But, if you are merely employed by a company (or partnership) with Federal government contracts, you are permitted to make contributions from your personal funds.
When Jessica first mentioned this to me, I was very concerned. When was free speech rescinded for citizens who happened to work on government contracts. Why are they singled out when so many other groups that receive public funding would not be (such as recipients of so many earmarks coming out of congress these days). It looks as if the restriction is a bit more limited than that.
In doing my search, I found an article mentioning the flow of money coming in from contractors here:
http://www.washingtontechnology.com/print/23_08/32774-1.html
There are apparently PACs setup for pretty much all of the major contractors/businesses (Lockheed, Northrop, AT&T, etc.)
I wholeheartedly agree that this influence by the contractors could be dangerous to our country. But how are these groups any different from the unions backing politicians who will pass favorable bills to them (while ignoring the political beliefs of many of their members).
July 5th, 2008 at 12:42Hmmm. Thanks, Rick. That makes more sense.
And as for what folks from the M-IC are more dangerous, it’s purely because they have an economic incentive for war, which gets people killed. All other things equal, I’ll take sacrificing human life as the worst thing we can do.
July 5th, 2008 at 21:23Where I see so much of what is done by the contractors today as developing better ways to fight the inevitable fights that will happen. Whether it is the development of smart bombs that can limit civilian deaths during a war or missile defense systems which are protective measures to keep our people safe. It could also be developing new warships which make deployments easier on both the sailors and their families.
For full disclosure here, my father and wife are both work as contractors and my brother is a member of the USAF.
July 6th, 2008 at 08:48I’m not so sure that war has as much of a future on the national, full-scale level. Certainly armed conflict will always be the way of humans, but as the world increasingly democratizes, I have hope that war will be less common.
Which is not to say, of course, that I think defense spending is bad, or what contractors are doing today in the R&D world is necessarily a bad thing. Missile defense seems to me to be the best thing a large target nation like the US can develop, although even that has more of a focus on national conflicts than, say, small pockets of crazy people doing stupid things with bombs and planes.
[But then maybe one day we'll realize that terrorists are really just criminals with better public relations and treat them as such, thereby neutralizing their martyrdom, etc.]
The main concern I’ve had about defense spending over the last, say, two decades is a decrease in spending money on infantry skills. Despite all the technological advances of the past five hundred years, nothing beats a guy with a gun on patrol at the end of the day. Blow all the ordnance you like, but you can’t hold territory without the infantry.
But just as contractors are doing positive things, they’re also doing negative things, as government outsources things like intelligence analysis and logistical applications to the private sector. Don’t get me started on how outsourcing is really fucking this country up, because I might never stop.
July 6th, 2008 at 17:51“The main concern I’ve had about defense spending over the last, say, two decades is a decrease in spending money on infantry skills.”
Why would we invest in the infantry and use them to their fullest when it is losses in that area that are reported 24/7 to the American people to declare the conflict a quagmire? Doesn’t it make more sense to invest in technology that will keep those soldiers/marines out of the line of fire?
On the outsourcing issue, I’ll just thrown in that I disagree, but I don’t have the time to form my full opinion on that. There are places where I think it is a really bad idea (most of the areas where the government is contracting today instead of doing the work themselves) but other areas that it makes a lot of sense (manufacturing comes to mind).
July 7th, 2008 at 06:19Only if you believe that eventually invalidates warfare.
I also don’t think that we disagree nearly as much about government contracting as you think we do. Remember, I am a government contractor in manufacturing.
July 7th, 2008 at 06:24