The world’s largest military budget has produced an industrial base that cannot sustain a serious war. How is that possible? Because the system is not designed to produce military capability. It is designed to produce contracts. The five largest defense contractors employ roughly a thousand lobbyists in Washington. They distribute their suppliers across forty-five states deliberately, so no senator can ever vote to cancel a program without firing his own constituents. And here we are. The current leadership will keep fiddling on this as they see our apathy as permission.