From James Madison, statesman, political theorist, and fourth president of the US:
The means of defense against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.
A modern update of Madison’s observation would include the intelligence services, the domestic surveillance industry. See “Sequester the Empire: The Pentagon Is A Swamp Of Waste And Its Bombs/Drones A Fount of Blowback,” by Justin Raimondo, SLL, 2/4/15
