500 Billion A Year For Defense?

People overseas are responsible for themselves and need not rely on the nanny state. Trade is a matter of private enterprise, not government subsidization. The Constitution empowers the government to enact excise taxes and imposts. Nothing more.

 

We have a Commerce Clause.

 

And?

 

The constitution is more than what is written in it.

 

commerce clause:

















It's original intent applied in a modern day context: let us say Texas wanted to do business with South Africa when it was under Apartheid despite the international boycott. If Washington DC (pursuant to Congressional enactment) decides it cannot do business with that segregated state, federal law/regulation would override Texas's commercial interests.

 

Capitalism; What is That, Sayeth the Right Wing.

Does Government solve All problems for the right wing?

 

Correct. See my earlier posts on the common law.

 

Right wingers love it when government bails them out of financial trouble or saves them when foreign governments take away any property for any reason. At any other time, the right wing says we need the 2d Amendment to keep government in line. After all, government works best when it governs least. Strangely enough this ideal goes out the window when it comes to police abuses of the poor in the inner cities. At that time government abuse is perfectly OK.

 

NATURAL LAW AND THE COMMON LAW
file:///home/chronos/u-afd5b97d72021b3777c35ca44967ea9af11df0e0/Downloads/06_3NatLInstProc7(1950).pdf

 

The only way our allies will watch and take care of the areas around their own countries is if we leave those areas and remind them that it is more of their problem than it is ours. Our men and women and our tax payers should not be a first resort for every issue in the world.

 

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Couldn't find your page.

 

That sucks.

 

I agree.

We have a Second Amendment and should have no security problems in our free States. We should muster the militia until we have no security problems.

 

Back in 2002, the US military budget was 500 in inflation adjusted numbers. So our military will probably look like it did back then. I think we need to shut down those bases around the world, do less research and steal more research from other countries. We should only participate in global defense measures if our allies take most of the responsibility.

 

Assume 4% inflation then 500 billion in 2002 is about 150-200 billion now. But thanks for trying.

 

Actually it would be about $355 billion if it wasn't inflation adjusted, and inflation is more like 2.5%. And in my post, I explicit said that defense spending was 500 billion in inflation adjusted numbers. Back in 98 defense spending was more like 370 billion in inflation adjusted numbers, so 500 billion was a really big increase. We spent most of our history with military spending being far less than 500 billion and we have done just fine.

 

You do know that the U.S. military has an unofficial motto today that can be summarized as "No one should have to be a hero".

That is we want our military to completely overwhelm and decimate an opponent without heroic action by our service personnel being required to win battles.

 

What a coincidence; we don't have a general warfare clause but a general welfare clause, and even a commerce clause but no common offense clause.

 

The best defense is a good offense. In modern warfare the U.S. is not defendable within its own borders.

It would be like a pro football defense trying to prevent a Pop Warner (Pee Wee) football team (11 & 12 year olds) from scoring on them with the caveat that you give the Pee Wee team the ball inside the defenses one yard line each down.

 

Only lousy capitalists say that. There is no express common offense clause.

Our welfare clause is General not Common.

 

The problem is that we are taking the security of the world solely on our shoulders and our allies just sit back and mostly do nothing. Maybe it time to stop being a hero and start being smart.

 

This took place today in Congress.

NATO Secretary General addresses joint session of Congress
World Apr 3, 2019 10:34 AM EDT
WASHINGTON — In the first address to Congress by a NATO head, Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday acknowledged serious divisions within the alliance and called for bigger defense budgets to cope with global challenges such as Russian assertiveness, the core reason NATO was created in Washington 70 years ago this week.

“We have to be frank,” Stoltenberg said before a joint meeting of Congress. “Questions are being asked on both sides of the Atlantic about the strength of our partnership. And, yes, there are differences.”

The NATO secretary general credited President Donald Trump with compelling allies to spend more on defense, without noting that Trump also has questioned the value of the alliance and suggested that some members are freeloaders...

continue -> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/...y-general-addresses-joint-session-of-congress

 

What we need to do is cut our defense spending in half and only agree with international actions if our allies drive the effort. We need to be a small part of an alliance, not the global superhero.

 

Britannica needs to rule the waves again.

The British never recovered from WW ll.

France never recovered from WW l.

Germany has gotten fat and lazy from drinking to much beer and eating to many sausages.

Russia wants respect as a regional power.

China wants to become the world economic and military power.

The Clinton administration and the Democrats should have never dismantled the Reagan military.

 

Where do you and others get this idea that American allies "mostly do nothing".

The British for example sent fully one quarter of their military to fight in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. A larger percentage than the U.S. did.