In 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell address to the citizens of the United States of America. Perhaps it sounded like every other presidential goodbye, but Eisenhower’s message should have been clear – problems are heading this way, there is still time to prevent them! Though he points out many flaws in our system, Eisenhower seems to focus on two main issues: the military-industrial complex and the technological revolution.

In 2007, when the president voices concern for the military establishment, the average US citizen’s initial response is probably something along the lines of “he wants to send how many more soldiers into Iraq!?” Though Eisenhower believed that a crucial factor in maintaining peace is the United States’ military establishment, he also expressed a desire for this country to successfully settle scores without arms and to be a “proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.” Had Eisenhower not know, or even had the slightest idea, that things could get very bad very soon, he would not have emphasized
both the need for peaceful resolution and the need to keep our guards up. Similar to this threat of “unwarranted influence,” Eisenhower warned about squandering our resources and the threat of constantly living in the moment. Despite some faith in future technology and processes, he reminded, “there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties.” Evidently, Mr. President has had some experience with new technology gone horribly wrong.
How he knew, we may never know, but Eisenhower’s focus has remained relevant for 46 years and, in fact, may be even more relevant now. Maybe he didn’t really know what this country was headed for, but that’s even scarier. His advice was impeccably timed, and had any one generation listened, things might have been very different – to say the least. Even during the Cold War, or perhaps especially, there was a constant threat of military attack. Ironically, throughout its duration, there was not a single, direct military engagement between the Soviet Union and United States. However, either country’s ability to completely annihilate the other – and everyone else – kept tensions high enough that more than 15 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, United States-Russia relations are only now at “frenemy” level. Our love/hate relationship with Russia is, unfortunately, only the tip of the iceberg.

Since the Cold War officially ended, much has happened. In 1961, no one knew what global warming was; now it’s just a matter of when we drown. Aside from the already existent threat, however small it may be, of nuclear, chemical, and/or biological weapons, we must also worry about polar landmasses melting and never seeing snow again. So now, not only do we see that Eisenhower’s warnings were useful and relevant, we also get to watch as they blend together. We did plunder our resources and no, we didn’t plan ahead. We do have countless soldiers in countless countries all over the world and yes; we did become a community of dreadful fear and hate. In 2007, there truly is a threat of melting ice caps that will drown the world, and yet we continue to pump out 14 mile-per-gallon/highway cars. If this keeps us, the rising price of gas will be nothing compared to what it may be in 2030, assuming there is any oil left by then.

Eisenhower asked for this country to maintain its prestige and leadership by putting our awesome power into “the interests of world peace and human betterment.”
Unfortunately, with the exception of a few radicals and angry families with dead relatives, the citizens of this so-called democracy are doing nothing to avoid, or even slow the process of, becoming a country with no natural resources… or allies.
At this rate, Idiocracy isn’t too far from the truth.

Mike Judge wrote and directed this offbeat sci-fi comedy, which gives a new meaning to the expression “people are getting dumber all the time.” In 2005, Pvt. Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson) is a soldier chosen to take part in a secret military scientific experiment in which he will be put into induced hibernation for one year, along with a woman named Rita (Maya Rudolph). Bowers is chosen for the assignment because he is statistically the most average man in the Army, while Rita is a hooker ordered to do some community service; however, Bowers and Rita are forgotten when the military base where the experiment took place is closed down, and when they wake up in the year 2505, Bowers finds himself living in a society where intelligence has taken such a landslide he’s now the smartest man in the world. Can Bowers save America from its own remarkable stupidity, and he can he get the dunderheads around him to believe what he says? Produced under the title 3001, Idiocracy also stars Dax Shepard as Bowers’s numb-skull lawyer, Stephen Root as a judge, and Terry Crews as Camacho, a former porn star and professional wrestler who is now president of the United States.