The Myth of War Spending
It is true that there is a rift in the Republican party. For many years the party of conservatives has been anything but conservative. Increasing federal spending and the creation of invasive new government agencies are a legacy of the Bush years. By the end of the Bush era the American population had become galvanized against Bush, and with no real conservatives in sight the Republican party nominated the liberal McCain to be the candidate for the executive branch. By tagging Palin along for the run GOP leaders thought they could gain support from real conservatives and firm up the base of the party. This proved to be a waste of time and effort as disenchanted conservatives around the nation looked at their party leadership and decided newcomer Ron Paul looked more attractive. Ron Paul did not get nearly enough votes to shake the Republican party, but the re-invigorated conservative roots of the party soon took to the streets as Tea Party activists. The tenants of the Tea Party did not include the usual Republican social issues but instead focused on reducing government spending and a return to a constitutional government. Shouting at the over-reach of federal power on all fronts, conservatives around the country began to wake up to the fiscal disaster that has become the American way of life. When coupled with a recession and growing distrust of all branches of government, conservatives finally had a place to stand up and rejoin the universe of reason and common sense.
The rift that exists within the Republican party is one not related to spending but instead social issues. Not all conservatives see eye to eye on traditionally Republican issues such as Federal marriage amendments, and the proper use of Military power. The marxist and marginalized news media is starting to understand how to argue against logic when it comes to spending, and instead it going to continue to attack government reduction proponents on social issues where they intersect with spending. It was only this evening that Rachel Maddow’s stand in stooge proclaimed that defense is the largest piece of the federal government, while quoting Ron Paul who believes we should pull out of all foreign wars and stick to protecting American interests within the country. Then pointing out that Palin is in support of defense spending, tried to make the disagreement out to be the beginnings of a Republican civil war. Only in Rachel Maddows dreams would such a reality exist, and while conservatives do disagree on military deployment and spending, it has little to no bearing on where the federal budget is actually spent.
I would first note that we are in a time of war. Defense spending is always going to be higher when a country is fighting a war. This puts a burden on the tax payers to pay for such a war, and I have to say personally I think we should bring the troops home and leave the sand box to the nomads that live in it. Regardless, the same liberal nut jobs that will try and justify hundreds of billions of dollars in new government entitlement spending agree if it means taking money from the military?
Is the military really the problem with our budget? lets take a closer look at where our money goes, so we can decide what programs should be cut in a time when the economy is in recession, and we are at war.
Out of all the federal spending which part of the government creates the most jobs? This is hard to measure as you can not simply count the employees of the departments. More job creation is done at the level of contractors. When money is spent on contractors that money leaves Federal hands and gets put to use giving non-government people jobs and wages. This money is also spent on companies that are publicly traded, so it could be stated that every American who wants to own a share of these endeavors can. Not all of the companies are public mind you, but many of the big ones are especially when it comes to National Defense. In essence much of the contract money gets circulated back into the business community who continues to create new jobs and use it to its greatest effect (something wasteful government agencies can not do).
The defense department spends $371 Billion in contracts over the course of a year. When compared to literally every other department, they spend more on contracts than most of the other departments combined. This is actually a very good thing as general public is exposed to the benefits of the spending.
Now lets look at actual government spending of different departments.
The Social Security Administration is the largest single department of the federal government when it comes to dollars. With $710 Billion in direct spending, it is the most wasteful government enterprise in all of recorded human history. A system which is broke, and robs Peter to pay Paul, it is a scam plain and simple. We can do without this spending altogether by removing social security. This is a program which will default and bankrupt the country in a matter of years, its ti me to kill this program.
The second largest waste of human energy in the world is the Department of Homeland Security. When liberals talk they often like to combine this department with the Defense department. This is simply a lie, they are two separate entities. One has a value and a place in the world, but the other one should go back to the halls of over-spending intrusive government from which it came. This department spends $460 Billion to take our freedoms and replace them with the illusion of security.
The third largest agency is the Department of Health and Human Services. With $384 Billion in spending, nearly all of this money is given out in Grants. Is is possible any of this money is wasted? This department spends billions of dollars more than the department of defense, and yet most people probably could not tell you what they do exactly? Welcome to the land of pork, and we didn’t fire any soldiers yet!
Then comes the Department of Defense with $377 Billion in spending. Don’t get me wrong, I agree there is waste in this agency as well, but it is one of the few things the government is actually supposed to do according to the constitution, so I suggest we take from other piles and then revisit this one when we have saved a trillion dollars from our budget on other waste. Please note, three other agencies, two of which can be dropped immediately with no ill effects have larger budgets than the department of defense. Sorry Rachel Maddow, guess your research department is not the brightest.
The list continues with a dozen smaller agencies which take in far less money in comparison. However I would note that we should get rid of the next one on the list as well. The Department of Education. Where in the United States Constitution does the federal government have the authority to regulate education of our children? Mark off another $143 Billion dollars in wasted spending on programs that should be illegal to begin with.
By simply eliminating the three departments I mentioned before we could reduce spending by $1313 Billion dollars without touching defense or any of the other wasteful programs spending out tax money like they can print it (Oh I forget at times that they can).
Lets not let the liberal commentators frame the debate. Cutting military spending should be the least of the issues keeping us separated. Once we again have a constitutional government in our nation, then we can duke it out over the social issues, and the issues of wartime and military spending and alike. Claiming that we should eliminate defense spending is a diversion to keep our eyes of all the real pork in the budget that should be the easy low hanging fruit for conservative representatives.
Even when you combine the liberal perspective on defense spending by including the state department, homeland security, nasa, and a couple hundred billion for wartime spending on the war on terror, it is hard to judge a dollar of this spending vs other programs like Social Security which are completely wasted.
I agree with many conservatives that think Iraq and Afghanistan were and are a mistake.. but make no mistake about it, I do believe in protecting the United States. While we are wasting time in a sand box with no purpose North Korea is becoming a nuclear power and Iran is approaching that place as well. Like it or not, this is not the time to cut our military strength by one iota.
If my numbers are found to be false please blame the federal government’s spending website as that was my primary source. Also, these are 2007 numbers, and are intended to represent a year of spending, as if calculated in decades it would make me cry.