We are quite rich enough to defend ourselves, whatever the cost. We must now learn that we are quite rich enough to educate ourselves as we need to be educated.

Lippmann contrasts two kinds of national “wealth” and two kinds of security. If a society can readily marshal vast resources for military defense “whatever the cost,” it cannot plausibly claim poverty when asked to fund education. The second sentence turns from capability to obligation: the real lesson is political and moral—public priorities should treat education as a form of collective self-preservation, not a discretionary luxury. Implicitly, he argues that democratic competence depends on an educated citizenry, and that underinvestment in schooling is a choice masked as necessity. The quote functions as a rebuke to austerity arguments and a call to re-rank education alongside defense as a core public good.