Pentagon Morphs into Octagon (p203-p206)

(Setting:  Jefferson is flabbergasted by the scope and size of the American military as observes the Pentagon morphing into the Octagon.)

The non-war effort was so massive that the Pentagon ran out of room, so Congress authorized funding for expansion. Since the pentagonal designation no longer described the newly remodeled eight-sided gargantuan edifice, its name was changed to the Octagon. This geometric reconfiguration followed precedent set by previous American military build-ups. The Defense Department headquarters was originally a small rectangular structure in Arlington County, Virginia. However, World War I military growth necessitated expansion of the building. The east and west sides were flared out, such that the oddly shaped military headquarters came to be called the Trapezoid.

World War II, the second in a long-running series of wars to end all wars, caused history’s largest military mobilization. This necessitated another expansion and reshaping of America’s military headquarters, so in 1943 the Pentagon was christened. At the time, it was the world’s largest office building, providing generals and admirals with 34 million square feet to house countless colonels, captains, and lieutenants, whose calling in this life was to efficiently send on to the next life as many people as possible.

So when the Vhaicam conflict came along, expansion of the Pentagon into the Octagon was inevitable, if only by precedent. The facility now sprawled out of Arlington County into Fairfax County and was bigger than several small nations. It had twenty mailing addresses in three different zip codes. The northern half had one telephone area code, the southern another. The complex was so big that the sun set fifteen minutes earlier on the eastern perimeter than on the western. Huge buildings like the Octagon invite hordes of workers to fill available office space, so it was soon brimming with legions of military personnel.

Senior officers nurtured by the Octagon eventually became leaders in government and private industry. This incestuous menage-a-trois insulated the Octagon from downsizing. Private industry eagerly employed retired military officers to get the inside track on contracts fueling the Octagonal juggernaut. Military officers moved easily into politics too, as companies feeding at the military trough eagerly provided campaign financing. From this beachhead on Capitol Hill, a steady flow of defense spending was ensured to private firms with umbilical cords attached to the Octagon. This business, military, and political alliance is called the Military Industrial Complex.

Riding his horse to work one day, Jefferson inadvertently crashed into the Octagon, which overflowed the night before across his usual route through the woods near Washington. The unexpected collision sent him sprawling. Unhurt, he remounted his steed and galloped around the perimeter of the mysterious monolith, expecting only a brief detour. Unfortunately, the building went on and on for miles. He eventually got to work, where he asked Freeman about the gigantic, continent-sized structure that had suddenly sprouted in the woods of Fairfax County.

"The only mysterious continent-sized structure in the area is the Octagon", said Freeman. "But I thought it was still in Arlington County."

Jefferson scratched his head. "It was definitely octagonal. I traversed its entire perimeter on my steed. It not only occupies Fairfax County, but also Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties."

"Hmmm", mused Freeman. "The Octagon may have overflowed into neighboring counties because its mission was expanded to include not only making the world safe for democracy, but also getting the Head Honcho re-elected. Were there any military personnel around?"

"Aye! The earth trembled under thousands of polished jackboots."

"I'll be damned!"

"We will all be damned", agreed Jefferson.

"No, I mean that proves it was the Octagon! Were you hurt by the collision?"

"Fortunately, I was unharmed."

"That's unusual", said Freeman. "Most people die when they encounter the Octagon. Why don’t you get a car so that your horse doesn’t gallop into continent-sized octagonal structures anymore?"

"I prefer my horse", said Jefferson. "It at least has the sense to ignore 'left turn only' signs."

"Suit yourself, but people are beginning to think you’re nuts."

"Oh? Tell me, what do they think of a man who drags around an iron ball and chain every step of his miserable life?"

"We all have crosses to bear", Freeman said quietly.

"Indeed", concurred Jefferson. "The biggest cross is the blood-stained military cruciform that has been lain on our backs. Sound principles do not justify taxing ourselves for wars that might not happen but for the temptations offered by the very existence of that military horde. A huge military machine is dangerous to a nation’s rights, because it places citizens totally at the mercy of their leaders. People cannot tamely look on and see their representatives violate, instead of protect, their inalienable right to life.

"This cross lain upon our shoulders not only burdens our every step and our every productive effort, it grinds our children like grist under an irresistible stone. The innate spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force. It should be said of us that our people are so wise that they will not hire themselves out to be shot at for a few dollars a day, that a standing army is inconceivable here in America, because we have no fools to furnish the flesh for the hellish bologna grinder. What inducement has the farmer to lay aside his plow and go to war with the farmer of another country?

"Standing armies are inconsistent with freedom. Better to make every man a civilian soldier, and trust him to voluntarily defend his country whenever his own good sense of self-preservation dictates. Distrust leaders who seek to disarm you personally, and to put in place instead an omnipotent military machine beholden to no civilian control. For a people who desire to remain free, a well-organized and well-armed civilian militia is their best security. This supremacy of civil over military authority I deem an essential principle of the government founded on these shores many years ago. To permit anything else is to deliver your children into the jaws of an insatiable wolf over which you have no control, a wolf whose hunger grows with each succeeding repast.

"Let the rest of the world be the cannibals eating one another. A war between Russia and Germany, for instance, would be like a battle between the kite hawk and the snake. Whichever destroys the other leaves one less destroyer in the world. This pugnacious strain of mankind we should restrain and starve, rather than unleash and fuel. The cocks of the hen yard kill one another. Bears, bulls, and rams do the same. I’ve always hoped that our nation would prove how much happier is the life of the feeder than the fighter, that we would milk the proverbial cow, while the Russians held her by the horns, and the Germans by the tail, pulling with all of their belligerent might, expending prodigious amounts of national energy, only to suffer their demise in battle without having tasted the fruit of their struggle. On the useful pursuits of peace alone can a stable prosperity be found."