Rebecca Hagelin's TownHall.com column today debunks the myth that the United States is going bankrupt because of our defense spending, that we're spending too much money to stop the bad guys and keep the country safe.
Sadly, there are those even in the Republican Party who are perpetuating this myth, including Ron Paul.
Polls suggest that many Americans think we already spend too much on defense -- never mind adding more. Others think it makes up the largest part of the federal budget. Quick: How much of gross domestic product do you think we spend on defense?
25 percent of GDP? 50 percent?
The actual number is less than 4 percent. Bet you’ve never heard that from the establishment media or liberal leaders.
To put the amount in perspective: It’s less than the 4.6 percent we spent during the Gulf War, significantly lower than the 11.7 percent we invested during the Korean War, and a fraction of the 34 percent we spent during World War II.
Just 4% of our GDP? That's too much to keep America safe?
Look at it another way. We spend about 18% of our annual budget on defense. How much do we spend on social programs that are not authorized by our Constitution? About half of our budget. That means with a $3 trillion dollar budget, we're spending about $1.5 trillion dollars on things that our Constitution of limited, enumerated powers doesn't authorize us to fund!
Instead of bellyaching about spending too much to keep us safe and free, why don't Ron Paul and the liberals bellyache more about all this illegal spending on things Americans ought to be doing for themselves?
Freedom isn't free.
4 comments:
Obviously you haven't researched Dr. Paul's platform very well. He has criticized many areas of gov't spending, including social programs. Dr. Paul has actually said that one of the few jobs of the gov't IS national defense, but national defense doesn't mean maintaining 170+ bases outside of our borders. Please do your homework before misrepresenting the good doctor's positions, or maybe that was just a way to get people to read your article.
According to Chalmers Johnson's "Sorrows of Empire", it's over 700 bases in 140 countries. As is noted in he comment, the author is dead wrong in interpreting Dr. Ron Paul's positions. Want to see how the USA stacks up against other nations when it comes to Military Expenditures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures
Anonymous, I'm aware Ron Paul has criticized other areas of government spending, including social programs, and this is to his credit.
I said he (and the liberals) should quit bellyaching about spending this miniscule amount on our defense and bellyache MORE about the unconstitutional social spending.
If Paul didn't have such a myopic, head-in-the-sand position on national defense and the War on Terror, a LOT of conservatives (including me) probably would have supported him from the beginning.
Paul is great in many areas, but there are some critical areas (national defense being one of them) which carry so much weight that if you're way off base there, it's not enough to redeem the rest.
Jeff, when you're the top dog as the U.S. is, every one of the bad countries is gunning for you...and even most of the ones that aren't dictatorial countries would love to see you take a hit so they might rise to the top. You don't protect yourself by spending peanuts when everybody's out to get you.
But at the same time, the amount we're currently spending, when considered against our total revenue and GDP, really is almost peanuts.
That's the point: Ron Paul and the libs are wailing about 17% of our budget, when nearly 50% of it is being wasted on unconstitutional spending? I know Paul has spoken against the other, but if I was him, I think for the sake of my credibility I'd wait until the 50% was corrected before worrying about the 17% we're spending to keep ourselves safe and free.
Post a Comment