The U.S. Military Budget Should Raise a Few Questions
A friend of mine was noticeably upset the other day when she called the library to renew a book and was put on a long hold. “It’s a matter of the prioritization of resources, not laziness or incompetence” I explained. “If you want more librarians, you’re going to get fewer firemen or bigger potholes in the roads.”
Of course, this is at the local government level. Looking at the national budget, what are the consequences of our spending $660 billion on the military industrial complex, the amount spent by the next 12 countries combined? Well, at a minimum, it means shoddier education and less global competitiveness now and into the future. It means tens of millions of Americans without healthcare coverage, and a diminished capacity to invest in clean energy, clearly the defining industry of the 21st Century.
To some, it raises the question: Why? It’s not like we fear a preemptive strike from Albania. Why do we have so many enemies? If we’re the good guys, and we don’t do things like supporting repressive regimes around the globe, if most of the rest of the world loves the United States, why do we need to spend this gargantuan amount to protect ourselves?
Craig,
Wherever did you get the idea the US was the “good guys” ? Even stranger, what on earth makes you think ” most of the rest of the world loves the United States” ?
The US is not paranoid, it faces real enemies ! Some just crazy, others undergoing nationalistic revivals, but all growing larger, better armed, more confident and belligerent with each passing year.
US military capacity has been considerably reduced over the last decade and is now stretched very thin. US allies depend on US military and economic might. In turn the US must rely ever more heavily on US allies. To keep those important allies requires investment in US strength.
The President’s call a greater contribution their own defense from wealthy beneficiaries of US military expenditure, such as Japan and Europe, has not been readily forthcoming.
Neglect of the US military-industrial complex comes at a price. It’s a price paid not by American appeasement/leftist sheep who weaken the US with endless complaints against the cost of feeding despised guard dogs. The same underfed (under equipped) guard dogs must face increasing number of bigger and stronger wolves encircling the silly and ungrateful sheep bleating snide witticisms .
There used to be a bumper sticker which still rings true, “IF YOU CAN READ THIS SIGN, THANK A TEACHER. IF YOU CAN READ IT IN ENGLISH, THANK YOUR MILITARY !”.
“Si vis pacem, para bellum” (If you want peace, prepare for war) remains as true today as when the warning by Publius Flavius Vegetius went unheeded just before the collapse of Rome.
Perhaps you should read the 1890 poem by Rudyard Kipling,”Tommy Atkins”. Have the lesson’s so painfully learned about 1930’s appeasement been so easily forgotten ? The contented bleating of sheep, only makes the wolves stronger and hungrier.