Do you think it is ethical to work for a company that builds drones, weaponry, or supplies parts to the military?
Do you think it is ethical to work for a company that builds drones, weaponry, or supplies parts to the military?
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It's a complex question, but I think the short answer is it depends on if your country has safeguards in place to control where that manufactured equipment goes. A few months ago I watched a video interview of a US State Department official who publicly resigned because he felt those safeguards (specifically laws of war and laws of proportionality) had been bypassed during recent arms transfer to Israel. I could see someone quitting their military manufacturing or engineering jobs for the same reasons. Whether or not you agree with how your nation's arms are being used is a matter of personal ethics and involves things like political accountability.
I know I want my country to have self-defense capabilities, and that means having a well-supplied military. Thus I support at least some arms manufacturing. I very much dislike the idea of it being entangled with major economic factors because I don't want war to make economic sense - i.e. "drive the industry". My guess is a lot of people worldwide would like to see less arms-for-profit trading because it makes military industrialists rich at the expense of weapons spreading around the world and often causing harm to innocent people.
do you feel what the united states spends on its military is proportionate to its direct defense requirement?
i think were up to 950b/year in 'danger'
Honestly, I'm not wise/educated enough to give a certain answer. I sure feel like there's a lot more spending being done than is probably required, and the DoD has failed multiple audits for 6 years now. So there's cause for concern or at least accountability about where the US taxpayer's money is ending up. The DoD budget could buy a lot of infrastructure, teachers, healthcare, debt relief, etc. so it's not unreasonable for citizens to want to know what they're gaining in exchange for giving those things up.
On the other hand, I live in Canada and the hard truth is we rely on the USA for a lot of our military needs. I know if Putin decides Ukraine isn't enough and he starts eyeing Canadian land (say in the Arctic), then I'm going to want to know NATO can win. My final take is probably that US military spending could be moderated, but cuts should be made carefully with justification.