So that security and liberty can prosper together...

Forty-five years ago today, Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his last speech as President of the United States. It introduced the world to the idea of the military-industrial complex and warned of the dangers it posed. (Read or listen to the speech here.)

In the four and a half decades, we as a nation have forgotten that warning.

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.

Security. Liberty. The two ideas are not mutually exclusive. Regardless of what our current administration and our parrot-like media try to tell us, less liberty is not the path to more security.

In fact, the less liberty--the less freedom--we have, the quicker we fall toward the tyranny men like Eisenhower spent their lives fighting.

The illusion of security that comes at the expense of liberty is enough, it seems, to coddle the masses. Just knowing that the government security agencies can tap your phone without any true judicial oversight, people reason, is a deterrent. Then they point, as our own vice president has, to how necessary it is to reduce our liberty in the name of safety from our enemies.

"The activities conducted under this authorization have helped to detect and prevent possible terrorist attacks against the American people. As such, this program is critical to the national security of the United States." --Vice President Dick Cheney speaking on the current wire tapping scandal

This is a shortsighted solution at best; a nail in the coffin a a free society at the worst.

In the same speech, known so well for it's prediction of the evils of the military-industrial complex we've seen personified in the incestuous relationships the Federal Government have with corporations like Halliburton, Eisenhower also warned of short-sightedness.

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

During the long lane of the history yet to be written, America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many fast frustrations -- past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certaint agony of disarmament -- of the battlefield.

And yet, we are fast becoming a nation of fear and hate.

It is fear that is used to sell the people on the idea of giving up their freedoms for security. The fear mongers don't even hide it in their rhetoric any more. They constantly invoke the one major terrorist attack this country has seen. Constantly point to it and say proudly "See, what we do works! Nothing like this has happened here since then."

They never mention that it had never happened before September 11, 2001, either. Long before we had the Patriot Act in place. Long before we had a president that went around the process to approve more than 500 wiretaps. Long before the media stopped digging deep for the actual truth and instead decided to become part of the problem.

Long before we were afraid of the challenges that freedom brings us.

The challenge of thinking ahead--making policy decisions that are long-term solutions, not just quick and temporary fixes to raise the public opinion polls a few points. The challenge of playing well with others in the international community--many parts of the world are not at their most stable right now, ravaged by internal, international and meteorological attacks. The challenge to take responsibility--we are all our own masters in this nation, all of us as individuals have to start acting like it.

Eisenhower knew. He saw where things could lead and, like any good general, he tried to rally the troops. Unfortunately, too few heard the call. And those that did were quickly relegated to the category of "conspiracy freak" or, more recently, "liberal shill."

Now... now it almost seems that it's too late to make a difference. But that in and of itself is no reason not to try. We, the people of the United Sates of America, hold the reigns of our government. Somewhere along the way, we forgot that little fact. It is our job to tell them what to do.

All we need to do... is speak up clearly and consistently.