What do you think George Washington would think of the U.S MIC? (war, influence)

[Possumowner]

MIC being Military Industrial Complex. Apart from of course being amazed at all the new tech and stuff, how do you think he would feel regarding just how huge and massive the military and the U.S has become? Or about just how much influence we have over the entire world?

[Unsettomati]

Originally Posted by Possumowner

MIC being Military Industrial Complex. Apart from of course being amazed at all the new tech and stuff, how do you think he would feel regarding just how huge and massive the military and the U.S has become? Or about just how much influence we have over the entire world?

That is not a history question, though this is indeed the History forum.

Modern military technology (and tech in general) as well as modern industrial processes are so far beyond what was anywhere close to the horizon in Washington's time that it's a safe bet that he never considered almost any of what it is at this point in time. Thus, he could not have left any writings that would give us even a hint as to what he thought about it.

You might as well ask what Galileo would have thought of the decision to end the Space Shuttle program. Both are essentially unknowable.

Your question is really just an invitation for people to give their own opinions on the 'military industrial complex', while insisting that Washington would have agreed with them - because he's a heroic history figure that they like, and so they'll project their own desires for him to think of it what they want him to think of it, which is what they think of it.

I'm sure there's a forum that's appropriate for the question LET'S TALK ABOUT THE 'MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX', which is really to what your question distills down. But this isn't it.

[North Beach Person]

Washington, were he not already invested, would have done so and tried to steer contracts to Mt. Vernon. Jefferson, on the other hand, would have gotten in early but lost everything because he would have bought high and sold low.

[joe from dayton]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

Washington, were he not already invested, would have done so and tried to steer contracts to Mt. Vernon. Jefferson, on the other hand, would have gotten in early but lost everything because he would have bought high and sold low.

Hilarious, and true.

[Dd714]

First of all it sounds like you have another agenda rather than history.

But Washington was a military leader, always suffering from lack of resources and supplies and untrained troops during both wars. During the revolutionary war he constantly begged the continental congress for more funding. It was a never-ending source of frustration. He was also somewhat a federalist during his presidency, and didn't like the state-based militia system, preffering a professional federal army.
He thus would be overjoyed at the current US military structure of the US. In fact, given the cut-back of the recent years, he would most likely be an advocate of increasing the military budget.