"If war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war". Do you agree with LB Pearson?

Legendary Canadian prime minister Lester B Pearson once said, "The stark and inescapable fact is that today we cannot defend our society by war since total war is total destruction, and if war is used as an instrument of policy, eventually we will have total war". Since it has already been conclusively proven that you cannot kill an ideology with weapons & armies, is it not time for the USA to try a different tactic, and also face the fact that unless the Military Industrial Complex is confronted & dismantled, then the USA is heading down a one-way path to oblivion.