The Obama legacy
By Tom Quiner
Congressman Darrel Issa posted the following remarks on his Facebook page this morning:
“President Obama has added more to the National Debt in six years than all of these men did in 219 years.
It’s a fact made worse by HOW he has spent it. In 1984, Ronald Reagan spent 1/3 of the budget on National Defense – the most fundamental responsibility a government has to its people. Today, despite spending more than ever before, we’re spending dramatically less on defense spending, even as entitlement programs and Obamacare are on track to make up over half of the entire federal budget.”
To be fair, Reagan was ramping up our nuclear arsenal during the Cold War, to stay on pace with the Russians. It was a plan that worked pretty well, as Communism collapsed under its own weight in the Soviet Union. Entitlements will overwhelm and bankrupt this country. Progressivism doesn’t work.
Rather than use the term “ramped up,” I think it would be more accurate to say he restored defense spending to normal levels as a percentage of GDP after Democrats cut it dramatically post Viet Nam.
True, but I don’t think military spending in today’s world needs to be anywhere close to 30% of our budget. What we really need is improved infrastructure, i.e. roads and bridges, and maintenance of our rail systems. We could easily get rid of 75% of our nuclear weapons, especially if Russia agreed to a similar draw down. We would still have enough weapons to destroy the world once over; no need to have enough to destroy it 8 times over. We NEED aircraft carriers though. They represent a projection of power. Not sure we need to develop new fighters when the the F-15E can still pretty much beat anything else in the air.