There is not even the pretense of working for the good of the American people, or any other people other than the small group of politicians, bureaucrats, think tank “intellectuals”, and weapons makers who parasitize the country.

From Stephen Kinzer in the Boston Globe:

The US Committee on NATO was founded by a former Lockheed executive and pushed successfully to expand the NATO alliance onto Russia’s doorstep. That sharply increased tension in Europe, which produces a handsome profit for the arms industry. Another influential think tank, the Atlantic Council, is funded by Raytheon and Lockheed. It faithfully produces articles with headlines like “Why Peace is Impossible With Putin,” and urges the United States and European countries to “commit to greater defense spending” and confront “a revanchist Russia.”

Large, centralized bureaucratic democracies are susceptible to myopic, parasitic special interests.