Avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.
– George Washington
Metaphor
Surely some revelation is at hand.
Metaphor 
Hmm. Two American presidents, both generals of the armed forces, warn us about the military, whereas presidents who know nothing about military matters–Bush II, Clinton, Reagan, Obama–march us into war after war.