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Building the Future of Defense
America’s national security is inextricably tied to our innovation and production capacity. To deter conflict and wage peace in the decades ahead, we must rethink the relationship between advanced technology, economic assertiveness, and the defense industrial base.
Building Industrial Strength
Deterrence requires not just military readiness but ideological confidence and economic assertiveness. Former U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, echoing the “Pottinger Paradox” and President Eisenhower’s doctrine of Waging Peace, warns that appeasing Marxist-Leninist regimes only signals weakness. To keep the peace, we must balance military power with economic growth. Furthermore, as Julius Krein notes, we cannot separate innovation from production; restoring US techno-industrial strength is critical when facing adversaries with massive manufacturing surpluses.
The Great Lakes: The Arsenal of Democracy
During World War II, the Midwest became the physical engine of Allied victory, producing over 300,000 military aircraft and 100,000 armored vehicles. Today, the Great Lakes region is poised to reclaim that legacy. With the surge of investment catalyzed by the CHIPS and Science Act, and Lake Michigan offering a unique, 920-foot-deep environment for testing advanced naval platforms—an underwater “Area 52″—the region provides the manufacturing strength and strategic geography needed for modern defense.
“This is not a fireside chat on war. It is a talk on national security… We must be the great arsenal of democracy.” – FDR, 1940
The Cost of War and the Duty to Remember
While we build our industrial capacity, we must never forget the human toll of conflict. Sabin Howard’s bronze World War I Memorial, A Soldier’s Journey, captures the profound trauma and sacrifice of veterans. Similarly, the literary counter-offensives of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis—both WWI veterans—remind us of the absolute necessity to defend Western Civilization against unprecedented assaults. Our ultimate goal is not war, but peace.