War & Military Spending
At Vote Liberty, we believe in the policy of Peace through diplomacy first. The United States is fortunate enough to hold a strategic position in world affairs since World War One. However, the country fared much better financially and economically prior to 1913 when the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. The biggest economic bubble of all time could very well be the expansion of Government and military spending after 1913. The 16th Amendment was passed largely due to pressure from the Socialist Labor Party, The Populist Party and the Democratic Party. The expansion of income taxes, the percentages to which they are levied, and the number of people paying them has since been increased dramatically from what was intended. This is due largely in part to the rapid increases in military spending. The military budget accounted for less than .25% of GDP in 1913. For perspective, the most the U.S. had ever spent to that point was roughly 12.5%of GDP during the American Civil War. During the First World War, that number rose to about 17% of GDP. By World War Two, it had risen to 35% of GDP. Currently, the United States spends roughly $600 Billion in defense spending, not including defense related spending outside of the Department of Defense. For instance, our nuclear arsenal is actually part of the Department of Energy. Some other departments included in defense spending include the Homeland Security, State Department, Federal Law Enforcement (FBI and others), and the interest on our defense related debt. Some estimates place the real cost of our defense budget as high as $1.2 Trillion in total defense spending, which would account for nearly 1/3 of all money spent by the Government, or nearly the entire federal budget from 1996 ($1.6 Trillion).
There is a lot of data in the previous paragraph, much of which is a projection. The actual numbers are kept away from the public. There is another argument to be had over the effectiveness and unintended consequences of our military actions in the past half-century. Our rising expenditures in our defense budget don’t correlate with our safety here at home and the American citizen has lost control and oversight over the cost of defending our nation. We can spend until we are blue in the face or $20 Trillion in debt, and still not be safe. How? The last war we won definitively was World War Two. Since then, we have been involved in occupying countries around the world, building bases and displacing families in the guise of promoting “Democracy” abroad. We are engaged in regime change in countries that were far worse off after we “freed” them in areas of the globe that don’t threaten our national defense. The argument of “fighting them over there, so we don’t have to fight them here” guarantees we will fight them here at home at some point. It is unconscionable to believe that fighting wars in places overseas will keep us safer at home, especially when the economic cost of defense spending is figured in.
Of the largest defense spenders in the world, The United States is first. It beats all the other countries in the world combined, including Russia and China. There is a correlation, however, between defense spending and financial collapse. The top four defense budgets in the world are our own, followed by China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, UK, India, France, Japan and Germany. There is not a country listed that does not manipulate its currency, inflate, borrow and print its money, all of which cause inflation and debt. What instrument can you see this unfold? When we look at the price correlation between gold and a currency in the market, we can determine its actual value. Since the early 1950’s, the currencies of these nine countries have seen their currencies depreciate against gold at an alarming rate.
The last argument against a large defense budget is the moral argument for peace. There is only one reason that war should be used, if there is no other option. We have become too quick to go to war, often without a declaration of war. According to the Constitution, a declaration of war can only come from Congress. War was meant to be a last resort. War, without a declaration of war, is simply an invasion brought on by our President. We should not be convinced that the authorization for force is adequate. An authorization for force under the War Powers Act/War Powers Resolution was supposed to be limited to 30 days. Every war since the Second World War has been fought without a declaration of war. The founding fathers intentionally made it difficult to send our country to war with another country. The stipulation for a declaration of war is steep. We’ve become complacent with our military performing diplomatic operations. We also rely on them to build schools and roads in foreign countries that we recently bombed. These are not functions our military service members should be performing. The unfortunate thing about war is that we kill people. Building them a school or a road won’t stop them from hating us after the damage is done. We put our military in immeasurable risk when we stay past our welcome to try to repair the damage we caused. Our military priority should be to stop the aggressor from causing damage to our country and/or our people, not promoting democracy in foreign nations by building public schools and bridges. Our nation would do far better by providing trade with peaceful nations rather than providing democracy to a country that hasn’t adopted it on their own for millennia.
There is a lot of data in the previous paragraph, much of which is a projection. The actual numbers are kept away from the public. There is another argument to be had over the effectiveness and unintended consequences of our military actions in the past half-century. Our rising expenditures in our defense budget don’t correlate with our safety here at home and the American citizen has lost control and oversight over the cost of defending our nation. We can spend until we are blue in the face or $20 Trillion in debt, and still not be safe. How? The last war we won definitively was World War Two. Since then, we have been involved in occupying countries around the world, building bases and displacing families in the guise of promoting “Democracy” abroad. We are engaged in regime change in countries that were far worse off after we “freed” them in areas of the globe that don’t threaten our national defense. The argument of “fighting them over there, so we don’t have to fight them here” guarantees we will fight them here at home at some point. It is unconscionable to believe that fighting wars in places overseas will keep us safer at home, especially when the economic cost of defense spending is figured in.
Of the largest defense spenders in the world, The United States is first. It beats all the other countries in the world combined, including Russia and China. There is a correlation, however, between defense spending and financial collapse. The top four defense budgets in the world are our own, followed by China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, UK, India, France, Japan and Germany. There is not a country listed that does not manipulate its currency, inflate, borrow and print its money, all of which cause inflation and debt. What instrument can you see this unfold? When we look at the price correlation between gold and a currency in the market, we can determine its actual value. Since the early 1950’s, the currencies of these nine countries have seen their currencies depreciate against gold at an alarming rate.
The last argument against a large defense budget is the moral argument for peace. There is only one reason that war should be used, if there is no other option. We have become too quick to go to war, often without a declaration of war. According to the Constitution, a declaration of war can only come from Congress. War was meant to be a last resort. War, without a declaration of war, is simply an invasion brought on by our President. We should not be convinced that the authorization for force is adequate. An authorization for force under the War Powers Act/War Powers Resolution was supposed to be limited to 30 days. Every war since the Second World War has been fought without a declaration of war. The founding fathers intentionally made it difficult to send our country to war with another country. The stipulation for a declaration of war is steep. We’ve become complacent with our military performing diplomatic operations. We also rely on them to build schools and roads in foreign countries that we recently bombed. These are not functions our military service members should be performing. The unfortunate thing about war is that we kill people. Building them a school or a road won’t stop them from hating us after the damage is done. We put our military in immeasurable risk when we stay past our welcome to try to repair the damage we caused. Our military priority should be to stop the aggressor from causing damage to our country and/or our people, not promoting democracy in foreign nations by building public schools and bridges. Our nation would do far better by providing trade with peaceful nations rather than providing democracy to a country that hasn’t adopted it on their own for millennia.