Military Spending Must Be on the Table

[bigsby]

Anyone truly concerned about runaway spending must confront the issue of military spending. We don't have industrial policy like many countries whereby we directly intervene in the economy (think Japan) but we accomplish the same outcomes via military spending.

Below is an excerpt of an article by Ron Paul about the need to cut military spending, which of course means vastly scaling back our overseas military expenditures. While I find common ground with Libertarians on many of issues, I don't subscribe to their core theories of government. Full link to the article below:

Our military spending in general has grown way out of control. This is largely because fiscal accountability in military budgeting is seen, by many, as weak on defense. This is absolutely wrong and a dangerous way to think. It is certainly possible for the military to waste money, or to spend money counter productively, and indeed it has. But out of political correctness, the military has been getting blank checks from the administrations and Congress for far too long.

It is important to defend our soil, but let us defend our own soil instead of defending Europeâ??s soil. Our willingness to defend Europe enables their lavish social spending at our expense, while they criticize our model of capitalism. It is time they allocated the money for their own defense. The same goes for Korea, Japan, and other countries like Egypt and Israel.
It is also important that while our troops are in combat, our soldiers have what they need to do the best they can, even if we disagree with why they are there. It is an embarrassment that some soldiers and families have had to buy body armor at their own expense when billions are awarded to politically well-connected defense contractors for weapon systems that donâ??t work, are over-budget, and are past deadline. This is the kind of waste that needs to end. I firmly believe that there is enough waste in the military budget that we can both save money overall and at the same time be safer.

Of course, the obvious way to save money and be safer is to stop meddling in the affairs of foreign countries and just bring our troops home. This will happen eventually if our empire, like every other fallen empire, insists on spending itself into collapse. If we want to avoid this, we must look into ways to bring our costs under control. Military budgets must be on the chopping block along with everything else.

Military Spending Must Be on the Table

bigsby Reviewed by bigsby on 06-30-2010. Military Spending Must Be on the Table Anyone truly concerned about runaway spending must confront the issue of military spending. We don't have industrial policy like many countries whereby we directly intervene in the economy (think Japan) but we accomplish the same outcomes via military spending. Below is an excerpt of an article by Ron Paul about the need to cut military spending, which of course means vastly scaling back our overseas military expenditures. While I find common ground with Libertarians on many of issues, I Rating: 5

[boaz]

...Below is an excerpt of an article by Ron Paul ...

It is also important that while our troops are in combat, our soldiers have what they need to do the best they can, even if we disagree with why they are there. It is an embarrassment that some soldiers and families have had to buy body armor at their own expense when billions are awarded to politically well-connected defense contractors for weapon systems that donâ??t work, are over-budget, and are past deadline. This is the kind of waste that needs to end. ...

true. Good luck Dr. Paul. :thumbsup: I'm just not buying into this whole US must be the world's police force mentality, either. :twocents:

[bigsby]

true. Good luck Dr. Paul. :thumbsup: I'm just not buying into this whole US must be the world's police force mentality, either. :twocents:

I don't mind the US playing a central role, I just don't see any reason why we must foot the bill for countries that can pay for it themselves.

[Islandborn]

Dr. Paul is a trailblazer thats for sure........but can he garner the kind of electoral college votes he needs to win the national election over Obama? I doubt it. I will say, if there EVER was a time Paul has a decent shot, its now. The next 2 elections should be fascinating to watch and participate in.

[bigsby]

Our system has evolved to serve the needs of the two parties. They have agreed to split the spoils at the expense of all others. In many respects they are flip sides of the same coin. A third party candidate has little chance until we undertake significant electoral finance reform.

[killerweed420]

When it comes to world dominance, there is no difference between the 2 parties. Thats why Im a libertarian. Its not just the enormous waste of money we spend on this empire building, its the cost of our young men and women's lives.
We have no business being involved in occupying all these countries and we create more problems than we solve. These countries are of no threat to us and yet we spend trillions of dollars at keeping the big bad boogeyman at bay.
Time to end the sherades and work towards peace rather than aternal war.