During his presidential campaign, President Donald Trump promised to return the United States to its former military strength. He believes that the country has gone soft under the Obama administration. An increase in military spending will regain some of that loss.
However, the Obama administration dropped more bombs than the three presidents preceding him. Regardless of that information, President Trump insists that spending $500 billion to $1 trillion dollars is necessary to bring back a Reagan-type era.
This call shows two incredibly distinctive and important shortcomings of our new president:
- A complete lack of knowledge about economics
- Thinking that building a stronger military and bullying other nations will earn back the respect the U.S. has lost over the years.
Let’s entertain for a moment that increasing the military is a good thing, however ludicrous that may be. Trump’s military agenda will take up a large portion of an already-tight budget.
According to an article in the Military Times: “Trump has said he’s confident that savings can be found by cutting bureaucracy and better policing government waste.” This method cannot produce the billions of dollars necessary to achieve such a goal; relying on the ability to convince or coerce congressional votes is hardly a sure shot to success.
Increasing military spending will do nothing but hurt the country. By the laws of economics, if money is being spent on the military, then it is not being spent in a place that actually matters, for example, education.
A team is only strong as its weakest link. An additional 90,000 military personnel is nothing compared to the millions of uneducated voters across the nation.
If President Trump truly wants to “Make America Great Again,” he needs to stop caring about the military-industrial complex and start caring about the minds of America’s youth.
Moreover, the United States is not at war with any particular nation. The war on drugs? The war on terror? The war on the Islamic State? Which countries do these enemies call home? The United States has not declared total war since World War II.
This means that each time our troops have invaded a foreign country, it has done so out of nothing but pure aggression. Where do we, as a nation, derive the audacity to attack whom we want and take what we want?
Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq were all quasi-wars that were not only unjustified but also lacked a formal congressional declaration of war.
The world would benefit if the United States took its greedy paws out of the cookie jar for a change and returned to the foreign policy of the Founding Fathers.
Former President John Quincy Adams said: “Let our answer be this – America… she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” In simplest terms, the Unites States is not the world police. We were successful in declaring independence from a tyrant. If other nations truly desire to be free from such, then they can do so alone.
The United States needs to stop intervening in conflicts that cost taxpayers billions and claim lives.
Another potential justification for armed conflict is to protect our allies abroad. In his farewell address, George Washington warned the public about alliances. He said: “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.”
Washington wanted to avoid long-term alliances because they all lead to conflict. If the allies go to war, the U.S. military is expected to support them. If they need financial help, we are promised to aid them while leaving our own country in disarray.
No good comes from increased military spending. No good comes from a military force so large with no declared wars to fight. All that exists is a group of bullies waiting to attack anyone who looks and thinks differently than they do.
If Trump wishes to regain the respect of the world, he can start by understanding respect is earned, not given. It is certainly not earned through intimidation and aggression.
Opinion columnist John Brucato is an economics senior and can be reached at [email protected]
Johnny … my Amish looking friend. You are another hack that has joined the chorus of Mad Left Propagandists who are all out to denounce President Trump. Dr. Joe Goebbels would be proud of you and your comrades for trying dominating the media with untruths.
A wimpy United States, which we had under Obama, was laughed at and disrespected. The amount of money that was given to the enemy is incredible. Obama, in the last hours before noon on January 20th, gave $200 million plus to the Palestinians, and you have to know they are not gonna spend that money on social programs. We’ve given plane loads of money to the Iranians, and practically have given them the bomb. Obama gave monies to ISIS for who know how long?
You may just get your Declaration of War Johnny … especially if a suitcase bomb goes off someplace … paid for by Obama himself no doubt.
Democrats as a whole have not realized that Radical Islam is a FORCE to be recognized, and most Leftist think like that stupid woman in the Independence Day movie on top of the US Bank Tower, just before the Radical Muslims … I mean Aliens, killed them all destroying LA in the process.
I do hope that the vast majority of Muslims do here adhere to Western values and have not a radical bone in their body. But I fear that one, many more than just one, have a vision of the death of Western Values.
If Radical Muslims were not happy under Obama, who professed to be a Christian, but has a secret place in his heart for Islam … if they couldn’t be happy with Obama. They will never be happy with us and our Western Values.
Progressives need a healthy dose of reality … Radical Muslims loath Gays Rights, they loath Women’s Rights. They loath castrated Democrat Men, of which UH and the DC has many. But my greatest fear is that even most non-Radical Muslims will support the vision of the stupid girl in the video. If not out of heart, but out of fear of reprisals from Radical Muslims.
I like Trump beefing up the military, but it is not the complete answer to the problem of Radical Islam.
We will not be free of terrorism, until we put the Fear of God or Allah into the Radical Muslim themselves.
While our Leftists complain of waterboarding … Radical Islam freely advertised the severed heads of Christians on sticks and strewn about the sidewalk.
While our Leftists complain of innocent Radical Muslims being held at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base … Radical Islam freely advertised Gays being thrown off high roofs.
Yes, our Leftists would have our military lined up, dressed as Red Coats with muskets on the field of battle … while the Radical Muslims would be armed with modern weaponry and out of range of the Brown Bess. And one has to wonder if Little Johnny Brucato might not agree with that statement?
Start watching at 2:52
Bravo, Johnny. The military industrial complex has increased astronomically beginning with “dubyah” and the so-called “war on terror” while his daddy sits on the board of the largest arms producing conglomerate servicing saudi-arabia, the largest terrorist nation in the world with an appaling record for human rights.
But back to the subject, strangely, the Obama administration has outdone even the Bushes in military spending, flowing trillions overseas into foreign wars. So who wins and who loses? The winners: lobbyists, weapons manufacturers and the government, who employs hundreds of thousands of people to manage organizations that support war and “homeland security.” (its for your protection, don’t ya know.) The losers: Americans. From those who pay for this waste with their tax dollars, and those who pay the direct cost with their lives. Who is to blame? All of us, for being complacent, and caring more about whats on tv or youtube than our future and those of our kids. And blame congress too, who is bought and paid for by the corporations that profit from this.
I wouldn’t take to heart any nonsense from the ignorant, who cant see past their own limited perspective. More weapons more war is certainly not a good thing, certainly not benefiting the citizenry who pay for it. The reason we get no respect around the globe is precisely because of these types of actions. We have a horrible reputation for being selfish, thoughtless and most of all destructive. And it is well earned. I agree with the founding fathers: Defend ourselves and our country, which we can do for 1/1000th what we spend now, jettison the spy agencies and homeland security, and let the rest of the world fend for themselves.
LOL Obama has done a better job of arming Iran than the US
In all seriousness it was very hard to read any further after you equated military strength to how many bombs we have dropped even if untrue.