/lit/ - Literature

Eighteenth-century Jeffersonians feared a "man on horseback," a military leader, like Napoleon Bonaparte in France, who would seize political power. Today's Jeffersonians have two different concerns about foreign wars and ongoing entanglements in the affairs of other countries. They fear the creation of a permanent coalition of interests -- what President Dwight Eisenhower called "the military-industrial complex" -- that will distort the nation's foreign policies. And they object to spending money for foreign purposes rather than channeling it to social welfare programs in the United States or, as Cato would prefer, leaving it in the hands of U.S. taxpayers.

Some who find post-Cold War U.S. military interventions unwise would subscribe to President Theodore Roosevelt's admonition to "speak softly and carry a big stick." They would, that is, endorse a robust military as long as it is not used very often. Preble disagrees. For him, the United States and its armed forces recall Oscar Wilde's remark that he could "resist everything except temptation." Preble considers a large military to be a permanent, irresistible temptation to intervene overseas and therefore favors a smaller one. The United States should devote considerably fewer resources to defense, he believes, and he deftly illustrates the ways in which defense contractors and military officials manage to fund weapons systems the country does not need.

Preble makes frequent reference to the founders of the American republic, whose definition of a proper foreign policy in many ways matches his own. Like him, they generally opposed maintaining a large military establishment and the waging of foreign wars.