As a philosopher, political economist and writer I've had two primary goals. They are the same two goals I will have as governor. One, to reduce the tax burden on poor, working class and middle class Americans. Two, to bring wisdom to government spending. The best way to accomplish both goals is to “nationalize" national defense.

It cannot be overemphasized: America spends more on preparing for, carrying out and trying to remedy military violence than the rest of the world combined. Much of this spending has little to do with the defense of the nation. Much of it is spending on a combination of pork barrel project (e. g. "star wars") and corporate welfare doled out to the well-connected and those who finance political campaigns and political careers. President Eisenhower indirectly warned of this threat in his 1961 farewell address. His speech is one of the most important speeches in American history and perhaps the most important speech of the past 50 years. And yet his words have been ignored by every president, be they Republican or Democrat. His words have also been ignored by every session of Congress, be it controlled by Republicans or Democrats.

In his address Eisenhower warned of the "unwarranted influence" of the "military-industrial complex." The first draft  of the speech warned of the "military-industrial-Congressional  complex" but his advisors, unfortunately, convinced him to remove  Congressional so as to not seem to strident. But whenever one  thinks of the phrase the "military-industrial complex," and one  should think of it often to understand life in America (or the  world for that matter), one should add the word Congressional. For without the active support of Congress the military-industrial complex could not dominate government spending and America’s foreign and domestic policies.

America will not reach its potential as a just, humane and democratic society as long as it is dominated by military spending.  And the best way to end this domination is to nationalize national defense.

Currently, "defense" spending is dictated, not by what is needed for national defense, but by what is profitable for private defense contractors. Leaving aside the obvious immorality of private contractors taking public tax dollars to turn a huge and unjustifiable profit the question remains: Should anyone profit from death and destruction?

The question takes on added weight when the death and destruction is a result of a war based on false pretenses, a war, such as in Iraq, that is based, not only on lies, but on the pursuit of another nation's natural resources (i.e. their oil). It is also vital to note that the same corporate and economic elite who profit from war and the production of war materials will be the same socio-economic cabal who will profit from Iraq's oil.

Nationalizing national defense will remove all the profit, cost overruns and exorbitant CEO salaries that Americans are now forced to pay for with their tax dollars. Those who defend the military-industrial complex will likely argue that profit is the lifeblood of capitalism. But in a civilized society some things must be above profit, above increasing the wealth of the already wealthy. Besides, the men and women who serve in the military serve, not from desire for profit, but out of a sense of duty and love of country. These men and women, most of who are from poor and working class families, have much to teach the corporate and economic elite. The elite might claim to love their country. But actions speak louder than words. If the elite truly love America there should be no complaining when we nationalize national defense and remove the profit from war and the production of war materials.

Nationalizing national defense will not only end the immoral practice of war profiteering it will make our nation stronger and safer. Instead of military spending being dictated by what is most profitable for private defense contractors it will be guided, at long last, by what is best for our country and the world.

Cost overruns, which have taken nearly $300 billion of our tax dollars for current weapons systems, will be a thing of the past.  Taxpayers will no longer be stuck footing the bill for unnecessary and malfunctioning equipment and the production of war materials that are way behind schedule. The savings to tax payers will be enormous and there will be other benefits.

For decades we have all suffered, directly and indirectly, by living in a nation where public policy is dictated by providing war profiteers a steady flow of tax dollars. The inefficiency and immorality of such a system is difficult to calculate. As far as money, we know it has cost our society trillions. More difficult to calculate is how much needless human suffering could have been avoided if those trillions of dollars had been used to meet basic human needs, both here and abroad.

If, for instance, national defense would have been nationalized decades ago, and we redirected even two per cent of what we've spent on the military toward humanitarian projects around the globe, America would now be the most beloved nation in history. We would have virtually no enemies and very little need for military spending beyond what might be needed to guard against the socially and mentally deranged. And of course those human imperfections could slowly but surely be ameliorated for a tiny fraction of what we now spend preparing for, carrying out and trying to remedy military violence.

The genius of Eisenhower's speech should be obvious to all who read it objectively. They will understand that in a nation dominated by war profiteers endless war in a given. They will see that in a nation ruled by the collaborators of war profiteers (i.e.  Congress and Presidents) spending for basic human needs will always be shortchanged.

Nearly 50 years have gone by since Eisenhower's prescient farewell address. Though this existence is far from perfect it does have many consolations. One of the most important is that it is never too late to do what is right. It is time to end the reign of the military-industrial complex. There is no better way to do that, no better way to reduce taxes on poor, working class and middle class Americans, than to nationalize national defense. We can then put to more humane use the hundreds of billions of tax dollars that will be saved each year once war profiteering becomes a horrific remnant of a brutal past.