January 27, 2011

Should Military Spending Be Cut?

By Bruce Walker
In the game of chicken that is national politics, it was sure that the left would pounce upon excessive defense spending as a way of reducing the deficit.  Since the Cold War, conservatives have supported spending for defense while the left has shown tepid support for defense spending.  Should we still support a big defense budget?  Yes, but it is worth recounting the reasons why.The blood of our troops is much more precious than tax dollars saved.  The left has long condemned "gold-plating" our military.  But in Desert Storm, the virtue of this investment was clear.  Despite facing a huge, battle-tested army with the best technology the Soviets could provide, our weapons systems were so advanced that America lost almost no casualties in achieving total victory.  In strictly monetary terms, the cost of fighting a war is much greater than the cost of a huge, well-armed American peacetime military.  During the Cold War, America was never...(Read Full Article)