Raytheon And The Military Industrial Complex

This is exactly what Eisenhower warned us about.

Leaving office in 1961, president Eisenhower warned of the establishment of what he called a military industrial complex. Defense contractors, like Raytheon, have become powerful special interests with influence in the government. The defense lobby has grown so powerful, that we no longer create weapons for war. We create war for weapons.

Here’s a quick rundown:

In 2021, Raytheon spent over $15.3 million lobbying congress. These lobbying efforts secure and close foreign weapons deals and lead to the distribution of more and more weapons contracts stateside that lead to the development of more and more devastating and dangerous weapons.

While conventional wisdom in Washington believes these weapons sales makes America, and by extension, the world, a safer place, when in reality, these sales serve only to cushion the pockets of Raytheon and other defense contractor’s shareholders, 51 of which are members of congress, writing our laws and determining our defense budget.

War is made for weapons, and not the other way around.

With Raytheon’s quarterly profits placed above the wellbeing of human life, especially that of foreign citizens, defense lobbying doesn’t just influence arms deals, but the very conflicts these arms are used in, and supposedly built for. Because if all you have is a hammer, everything is gonna look like a nail, and if all you have are weapons, the only way to stop a conflict is through war.