In 1832, Carl Von Clausewitz published his influential tome called “On War” in which he described war as “politics by other means.” History has certainly proven that to be true, but in more modern times, we might add a qualifier — “war is financially motivated politics by other means.” This is a broader version of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning when he said, “Beware of the military-industrial complex.” Today, he might update that warning to the “congressional-military-industrial complex.”

The system works like this:

Some of the largest companies in the United States sell or support military weapons. Our Congress awarded Department of Defense contractors more than $655 billion in 2012. Of the 30 highest-paid contractors, only six of them are not suppliers of weapons or weapon systems support, and they have averaged more than $100 million per year of contributions to Congress over the past 15 years while receiving an average of $450 billion in contracts per year.