Personality Zone

President Obama and the Military-Industrial Complex

Understanding and re-directing should dispel "threats"

If I’ve learned anything at all from Keirsey temperament theory, it’s that understanding others and communicating with others -- even massive controlling organizations -- will improve chances for everything from improved personal relationships to world peace.

Last week I visited for the first time the site of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas, Texas. All the pictures and documentaries in the world do not make up for an onsite visitation – and this is certainly true of Dealey Plaza. This was a small area. It was not a long shooting distance from the sixth floor window of the Texas Book Depository to the street where the President was passing at a very slow speed. I was so moved that I went back a second day.

As you know, there are many conspiracy theories. The only thing that the latest group of government-sponsored committees came up with is that, yes, it looks like there was a conspiracy. The one most logical to me was Oliver Stone’s, i.e., that the President was about to cut off support for further escalation of our efforts in Vietnam – thus denying war profiteers gobs and gobs of anticipated profits.

Senator Obama is now calling for peace, for a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. He is also advocating diplomacy with regard to potential combatants, e.g., Iran. I think we should righteously fear the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about. And I think that the next peace-loving leader of this country should figure out how to deal with it. To repeat my headline above: If I’ve learned anything at all from Keirsey temperament theory, it’s that understanding others and communicating with them carefully will improve chances for everything from improved personal relationships to world peace. Therefore, I wrote the following letter to one of Senator Obama’s key advisors:

Dear Sir:

The people who profit from war might be Senator Obama’s biggest challenge, so here’s an idea. If ungodly profit is the key sticking point, then the brass ring for them might be to be persuaded to move their focus from war to peacetime production, i.e., from swords to plowshares. So instead of manufacturing and distributing only missiles, bombs, and guns, they would be encouraged and massively supported to manufacture conveyances like trains, light rail, ships, energy-easy cars; engineer and build energy infrastructure like windmills and solar plants; employ personnel to build just about anything – bridges, roads, etc. -- rather than destroy things.

Yes, of course, the country needs to be secure and strong militarily. So President Obama would want to be clear and firm about that, and support it with the best tools and resources.

But turn war-making into peace-making – as only a President Obama can. Yes, the power of his touch and his words will perform that miracle over time.

Meanwhile, the military-industrial complex – and, yes, it thrives today – cannot be allowed to inadvertently become his enemy. They are powerful and will stop at nothing to beat him down one way or another if they feel threatened. So make it an ally? Seriously synergize with it. Redirect it and re-name it, say, the bridge-building industrial complex?

Jack Dermody