Norfolk’s standard tourist gem is the Chrysler Museum with its comprehensive collection of glass from ancient Greece and Rome through Tiffany and into the modern era (mercifully there is only one piece by Dale Chihuly). Karen, Robert, and I visited a newer downtown attraction: the Wisconsin, an Iowa-class battleship completed in 1944, mothballed in the mid-1990s, and installed in Norfolk harbor in December 2000. The Iowa class are the largest battleships ever built by the U.S. Navy. We strolled among the 16-inch guns, festooned with photos of the shells, each of which weighs as much as a Honda Civic, zooming off towards Iraqi military targets during the 1991 Gulf War. It occurred to me that the Wisconsin represents a stage in a cycle of taxation.
We tax ourselves to create a small government capable of taking actions, some of which make foreigners angry. We then have to tax ourselves even more so that our government can build battleships that go forth and drop 2700-lb. shells on our new enemies. After those enemies are all dead and/or cowed the surplus tax revenues are used for more government activity, which angers new and different foreigners. So we have to raise taxes again to build more weapon systems to attack more foreigners. And the cycle continues…
[Visitor info: There is no charge for visiting the Wisconsin and the volunteer guides are very knowledgeable. You can’t go below decks, however, because the interior is preserved with dehumidifiers. An oil-powered battleship doesn’t figure into the Navy’s carrier-centric needs right now. However, the Navy still owns the Wisconsin and may recommission it one day if its capabilities are required.]
The Iowa was built in response to Japanese aggression (which was arguably prompted by an American blocus, in turn inspired by Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and so on all the way to Commodore Perry).
Still, you have some of the lowest tax rates in the western world.
I think that Ike (not Turner) spoke to this same issue:
http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Closer to home, you can tour belowdecks of a WWII battleship at Battleship Cove in Fall River, MA. They have the USS Massachusetts, a South Dakota-class battleship. She’s smaller than the Wisconsin, but with the same immense 16″ guns. Last time I was there, you could explore quite a bit of the belowdecks area.
We fight a war to ensure you have the freedom to print your stupid liberal wining about war, people die, we win, the cycle continues. The only difference is that each time it’s new people dying, but the same stupid liberals. Have a bad day stupid.
Wow! Skip can type! Now if he could only get on top of that grammar thing…
i don’t think we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence , it still a policy !!