The Case for Defense Spending
Kim Holmes /
The country is drowning in red ink. A revolt against rising debt is unleashing a grass roots movement to curb spending. Conservatives all across America are deeply concerned that unless we can get spending under control, we will forever lose our country.
This is hardly an environment conducive to making the case for more defense spending. To make matters worse the Department of Defense is in the hands of an administration that conservatives do not trust. It’s understandable that they would not want to appear to give a “blank check” to the very administration that is busting the budget with out of control domestic spending.
But here’s the problem. The Obama administration is cutting defense projects and programs that we need, and doing so by using disingenuous arguments of frugality intended to put conservatives on the defensive. But conservatives should not be on the defensive. National defense is the one area of government that conservatives believe the federal government has a constitutional responsibility to do right. So much of Obama’s spending is unnecessary and of dubious constitutionality. That is not the case in spending on national defense. (more…)