"When American presidents prepare for foreign wars, they lie"
About this Quote
It lands like a slap because it refuses the comforting premise that war is a tragic last resort honestly debated. Higgs compresses a whole political lifecycle into one bleak verb: lie. Not exaggerate, not spin, not “manage messaging” - lie, as in a deliberate break with democratic consent. Coming from an economist, the line also signals method: look past patriotic theater to incentives and payoffs. If war requires mass sacrifice, then leaders have a built-in reason to inflate threats, sanitize costs, and promise quick victories. Truth is not just inconvenient; it is a competing budget item.
The intent is less to indict a single administration than to describe a recurring mechanism. “Prepare” matters: Higgs targets the run-up, when narratives are still malleable and the public can still say no. The subtext is that war-making is not merely a response to events abroad but a domestic project of coalition-building, where fear and moral clarity are the easiest currencies. Foreign enemies become narrative props; ambiguity becomes treason.
Contextually, Higgs is writing in the long shadow of the “rally ’round the flag” playbook and what he elsewhere frames as crisis-driven government growth: wars expand executive power, accelerate surveillance, and normalize emergency spending. The line reads like a warning label on the presidency itself. If you want to predict what comes next, don’t start with speeches about freedom. Start with the incentives of a leader asking for blood and money - and needing a story big enough to make the bill feel righteous.
The intent is less to indict a single administration than to describe a recurring mechanism. “Prepare” matters: Higgs targets the run-up, when narratives are still malleable and the public can still say no. The subtext is that war-making is not merely a response to events abroad but a domestic project of coalition-building, where fear and moral clarity are the easiest currencies. Foreign enemies become narrative props; ambiguity becomes treason.
Contextually, Higgs is writing in the long shadow of the “rally ’round the flag” playbook and what he elsewhere frames as crisis-driven government growth: wars expand executive power, accelerate surveillance, and normalize emergency spending. The line reads like a warning label on the presidency itself. If you want to predict what comes next, don’t start with speeches about freedom. Start with the incentives of a leader asking for blood and money - and needing a story big enough to make the bill feel righteous.
Quote Details
| Topic | War |
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