Since World Two, the United States has had, without question, the most powerful military in the world. Certainly it makes us all feel proud that our country is so mighty. But overall, has this been beneficial to the American people and for that matter, to the world at large?
It was because we had such a powerful military that we entered the War in Vietnam, we chose to attempt a regime change in Afghanistan, and we decided to invade and displace Sadam Hussein. All of those turned out to be huge mistakes that cost the US taxpayers past, present, and especially in the future, many trillions of dollars plus some 4.5 million lives lost, mostly civilians.
Let’s take Afghanistan, for example. The last time that country was successfully invaded by an outside power was in 1219 by Genghis Khan. In recent history, both the British Empire and the Soviet Union invaded and were ejected from perhaps the most rugged quasi-habitable terrain on the planet. It was only the hubris that comes with commanding the most powerful military in the world that enticed George W. Bush to send 100,000 soldiers to overthrow the Taliban and attempt nation building there. And with that escapade initially appearing to go well, W was emboldened to invade Iraq with 160,000 military personnel.
What if we had not been quite so powerful? What if we had the ability to send in special forces to capture and/or kill leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban and destroy their camps and bases, and with the help of our many allies, we accomplished that mission? Would we not have achieved as much or more than we did at a fraction of the costs? Consider the difference our image would be in the world – not as warmonger but as a nation with wisdom and restraint. And of course, ;ike Afghanistan, Vietnam and Iraq II ended as miserable exorbitantly costly failures for the US.
Our huge spending on the military has allowed our allies to scrimp on their military spending and use the savings to invest in their infrastructure and social programs. Had we not been so powerful, then our NATO allies would have had to invest 2% or more of their GDP in defense to feel secure. Same for Japan and South Korea. Keep in mind that we are protected by two huge oceans and our MAD nuclear arsenal prevents any viable adversaries from doing great harm to our homeland.
Who benefits the most from our superpower military? The military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned about. What is the greatest threat to the national security of the United States? According to the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” That was in 2010 when the national debt was $13.5 trillion. Today, the national debt is $35.7 trillion.
In 2023, the US spent $916 billion on national defense. This represented 40% of the combined miliary spending of all the nations on the planet. Would we not be wiser to spend less and let our allies who are much more threatened by the nation states of Russia and China than are we spend more?
In reality, our main threats are not nation states; they are stateless terrorists. J-35 Strike fighters at $130 M each or Trump’s Iron Dome at $2,500 Billion will be useless against those threats. Becoming the unrivaled superpower as far as expensive military hardware is concerned will greatly increase our defense spending. But to what purpose? It won’t help us strategically defeat our main adversaries. However, it will bankrupt us to the point that we will not be able to meet our obligations to such essential services as Social Security and Medicare. The credit rating on US Treasuries will fall and the interest rate on our national debt will skyrocket. Debt Service on the debt will eventually force us to cut back our military spending to well below what it is now. Ultimately, thanks to Trump’s foolish policies, the United States will be greatly weakened.
Donald Trump does not care about the future of our great nation. All he cares about is getting his momentary ego fix which might include holding parades North Korean style showcasing our newest military gadgets. If you are planning to vote for Trump because of these two counter-productive platform planks, rethink. Long term, they will greatly undermine our national security.
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