Drumbeat For Military Cuts Increases

26 Nov, 2008 by McQ

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I touched on the Netroots reaction to the Gates appointment and the implication that desired defense cuts probably aren’t in the offing.

Erica Etelson doesn’t deal in implications. She pretty much comes right out and says why they should be made:

The president-elect is very smart, but he’s not a magician. He cannot conjure from thin air the trillions it will take to fix our broken systems. Mr. Obama promised to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans as a way of funding his ambitious programs; now it appears he intends to delay those increases. The most sensible way to raise revenue without raising taxes is to make substantial cuts in defense spending, starting with an immediate withdrawal of forces from Iraq.

It might not surprise you to find out that Ms. Etelson is a “writer based in Berkley, CA”. Ms. Etelson concludes her “down with the military” piece with this:

The day of reckoning has come: Our nation’s infrastructure is literally crumbling underfoot, the economy is headed down the drain, and our social fabric is in danger of disintegrating. If we do not quickly transfer our nation’s wealth from the bloated military to social, economic, agricultural and environmental programs, we will soon be on a ruinous path.

I’ve always wanted to ask someone like Ms. Etelson if she’s at all familiar with the Constitution of the United States, and if so, which, if any, of the things she lists above are actually legitimate expenditures for the federal government?

My guess is not only does she not know, it wouldn’t matter to her. Anyone who claims that it is the job of the federal government to “transfer our nation’s wealth” has a completely different concept of the function of government than did the old dead white men who founded the country. Unfortunately, her concept is about to take control of government and when it finally does, we may see the last vestiges of the Founder’s dream finally wiped from the face of the planet.

[Crossposted at QandO]