You’d have thought in 1961 when Eisenhower warned the U.S. about its emerging “military-industrial complex” someone would’ve sat up and taken notice. Perhaps some calls for restraint in military expenditures, or less interchange between defense industry execs and positions of power within the federal government.

But, of course, there was the ongoing threat of Communism. Red scares and blacklists. Death squads and arms deals. A race to the death for superior weaponry against omnipresent enemies. Who’s going to notice a few capitalists lining their pockets with profits when the Soviet menace is poised to take over the planet? In such situations warmongering seems suddenly understandable, and warnings to the contrary fall upon deaf ears.

So you’d have thought in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved, leaving only one remaining world superpower, maybe someone would have heeded Ike’s plea. Collectively, breaths were held in anticipation of the alert and knowledgeable citizenry which would surely demand the deconstruction of a now unnecessary supercharged armory.

Yet, here we are all these years later, still holding our breath.

All the Cold War arm-chair-warriors — the Rummys, the Cheneys — recycle themselves from administration to administration, cannibalizing and regurgitating the same failed policies.

The nuclear warheads, sitting in silos on high-alert, have yet to be dismantled. We have continued accumulating our own WMDs at breakneck speed, but with no one left to impress. All the Cold War arm-chair-warriors — the Rummys, the Cheneys — recycle themselves from administration to administration, cannibalizing and regurgitating the same failed policies. For them, stockpiling weapons is better than masturbation. Old habits die hard, and all they need are some Jihadists to give them an excuse to keep stroking.

Today, these chicken-hawks have seized near complete control of all three branches of U.S. government, and despite the nature of our current low-tech enemies, demand we bleed red-ink to fund their expensive toys. Pass the hat to subsidize their penis envy. Far from remaining alert, we continue to vote for representatives who approve this engorged militarism.

The U.S. spends more on defense than the rest of the industrialized world combined.

All this while record numbers of Americans are without healthcare or access to good education. While officials within the Department of Defense tell us global warming is a bigger threat to national security than terrorism. While biologists and ecologists tell us Earth’s decreasing biodiversity is the gravest peril ever to face our species. So where are our innovative solutions to these problems? The only scientists given government grants to think outside the box work with the Pentagon trying to turn insects into remote-controlled cyborgs, or build microwave pain-rays. There’s no cash to spare on superficial concerns such as human and environmental wellbeing.

Like any addiction, our national fixation with phallic playthings has led to institutionalized neglect. State-sponsored irresponsibility.

And it’s long past time for an intervention.