By now, most people who pay attention are aware that the current president is proposing to fund the Department of Defense (DoD), not the Department of War, at over $1 trillion, a 25-30% increase. I would guess that most taxpaying Americans are not in favor of being known only for our military might. It bears repeating that the DoD has not been audited by a third-party auditor since the 1990s, even after trying to do so numerous times. The audits were stopped because there is not sufficient documentation to review how billions of dollars were spent. The military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about over 60 years ago is celebrating getting their share of this potential windfall. For the next several months, the current president will be selling the notion that the U.S. needs a $1 trillion or more DoD budget. Don’t buy the hogwash that will be used during this con job, there is no need for a DoD budget of the proposed size. I wonder if this will benefit the drone business, which Don Jr. and Eric just started.
It is my opinion that the DoD #I will never use the Department of War, should be funded at a reasonable level. If the US undertakes military actions abroad, we no longer declare war for political reasons that are not part of the normal operation of the DoD; everyone, including corporations, must pay a surtax on their federal income tax to cover the costs of this added DoD expense. This can become a logistical nightmare; however, we must have the public share in the cost of often ill-advised military action that can drag on for far too long. The public needs to have skin in the game and not simply rely on the small percentage of Americans who are the US military force. We were in Afghanistan in some military capacity for over 20 years and achieved little, if anything.
The current president campaigned as the peace president who would not start needless wars. He actively sought to receive the Nobel Peace Prize even though he did little to deserve the award. Don’t buy the nonsense that he ended multiple wars and deserves to be duly recognized for his effort. The current president loves trinkets and awards, particularly if they are golden. It is widely known that to get on his good side, give him a golden object, the gaudier the better. The Nobel Peace Prize is a gold medal, just what the current president craves.
The current funding for DoD equals the combined defense spending of the next five or six highest-spending countries. I guess we are shooting for the next nine or ten countries combined. Most people have heard of the unreal contracted spending on everyday items that could be bought in retail stores for much lower prices. Because no audit has been done since the 1990s, we really don’t know if that practice continues. There have been news reports over the years of weapon procurement, some very expensive, that the DoD no longer had a need for, yet continued to receive funding because of political pressure. The military-industrial complex, the one President Eisenhower warned the country about 60+ years ago, has been very strategic in locating production facilities throughout the country, in key congressional districts, as a hedge against federal funding cuts that would close local production facilities. Now that our election process is so dominated by money, it is difficult for most politicians to look at DoD funding objectively.
Recently, the current president mentioned needing to fund the DoD at over $1 trillion. He basically called all other federal programs and services scams. He implied that the only purpose of a federal government was to defend the country, which is why the obscene amount of $1 trillion was needed. The current president holds the U.S. Constitution in total disregard and feels no need to follow it as the legal document that guides and constrains our actions as a country. He finds the concept of government by, for, and of the people limiting. Providing for the general welfare and working toward forming a more perfect union are only valid when viewed through the current president’s lens, in his ultimate desire for complete political control. Believing that federal funding for health care, day care, Social Security, Medicare, housing, education, regulatory oversight, and many other programs and services offered by the government are scams reflects some of the poorest judgment by any president in the history of the country.
It may be true that the U.S. is a warrior nation. The U.S. has fought 36 major wars and conducted 469 military interventions since its founding, with only five formally declared wars by Congress. Many of those military interventions were foolhardy adventures that did little to enhance or protect the security of the U.S. The country has wasted billions on wars and military interventions that were strategically unnecessary but served some convoluted political purpose.