Friday, April 3, 2015
The Military
The US military's capabilities are nearly incomparable to the combined might of most if not all the militarizes of the world. Spending figures alone place the US well above the expenditures of the next few countries added together. Obviously gutting the budget of the military would damage the country and its ability to defend itself. In addition the budget of the military is not the largest expense percentage wise of the gross domestic product of the US. However the expanse of the military physically, geographically, and economically is troubling. The US has built bases in many places across the world and continues to create more and more. The size and numbers of military personnel and equipment are also increasing quickly. These two result in large dollar figures steadily moving upward and projected to increase. An idea to change this should be simple but nontraditional. The US should eliminate nearly all bases throughout the world leaving as few as possible. Many bases are sources of problems for host countries and require funds to maintain. The US should also limit the increase in military spending to a specific percentage level and match the increase in funding to increases in funding to other areas, personally NASA, FDA, or NIH. Many areas in the government are lacking adequate funding or the funds to accomplish new research or development. The US should also consider consolidating the military branches and refocusing foreign policy to more peaceful ideas. Undoubtedly this will take time and effort but something needs to be done to fix as many areas of the government as possible soon.
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ReplyDeleteI agree that the U.S. needs to prioritize spending. We spend too much on defense. Our involvement has caused a snowball effect that has caused us to get further involved in foreign affairs and spend more and more money. Motives behind the 9/11 attacks were because of the U.S. involvement in Israel, troops in Saudi Arabia and sanctions against Iraq. The amount the U.S has spent on wars since the terrorist attack is over $1.6 Trillion. Wars are expensive, detrimental, scary, senseless, uncivilized, devastating and not progressive. Meanwhile our education system results in less than average results, making America look like the big stupid bully of the world. Data for 2010 shows we spent 20% of the budget on defense while only spending 3% on education.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of spending less on defense and more on education would benefit society greatly in many ways. I truly think that we could come up with clever new ways to defend our country without spending so much money. The next generation should come up with less barbaric ways of dealing with world conflict, and this can be achieved by education reform. We need to learn how to cope with conflict and when to stay out of foreign affairs.
Education reform won’t happen just by throwing a bunch of money at the nation's schools. We need to offer better support to teachers that way quality increases. We need more research done on progressive teaching techniques and new issues that effect students today, such as ADD. Maybe we can figure out a system of standardized testing that teachers actually agree with. And while we're at it let's make peace studies a required course. The point is we should be devoting more economic resources on building and deploying young minds. The more we learn, the more we understand, the less we'll fight. If we truly want our country to be great then we need to prioritize where money is being spent because spending so much military defense is just protecting our right to remain stupid.
I disagree, military spending is not really a question of whether it's too much, just right, or not enough. As with all federal government agencies, the issue is wasteful spending. Military spending is only one part of the systemic problem in the federal government. To simply latch onto military spending as the federal spending issue is very narrow-minded. If the funds are stopped for battling terrorists, it will not stop the other countries from attacking us. Unfortunately there are many places in the world that want to see America burn. Take North Korea for example. This Communist country has been threatening the United States of America for quite some time now. This is a little country. They know they do not have the capabilities to attack America where we are right now; they’re not dumb. With all of our weapons and soldiers, it would be suicidal. If we were to stop and cut funds, it would only make us weak. Spending money on the war against terrorism is very important, now and forever, as America is an ever-growing nation and this society is just getting more and more advanced. We have come a long way since our conservative ways. The United States of America is known as Land of the Opportunity and Free, offering rights as well as freedom to its citizens; freedom of speech, freedom to wear certain clothes. Everything was fought for. You have to fight to get what you want, to get where you want to be. We live in a world where things do not just come easily to you. In school, we are fighting to be the best student. In work, we are fighting to do the best job. Everywhere around us, we are at war. And it is because of war that we are able to continue the lives that we have, be free and have human rights.
ReplyDelete“If we truly want our country to be great then we need to prioritize where money is being spent because spending so much military defense is just protecting our right to remain stupid”, Ashley Arnerich said in her comment, which is a great example of pure ignorance. There have been countless soldiers who died on the battlefield to help make America free. So you’re saying those men and women died “protecting our right to remain stupid”? And then you brought up the 9/11 attacks as if we as a nation saw a tragedy like that coming. If we did, don’t you think we’d do everything possible to prevent it from happening? Isn’t that where military defense would come in? Did you expect us not to take action and go to war after that horrible event? If education is your argument, then blaming military spending isn’t the way to go. What good is intelligence if we do not use it to protect ourselves? Many people don’t go and get a college education simply because they can’t afford it. The use of programs like ROTC allows for people to earn a degree while receiving financial support from the military. Let’s not forget the education opportunities that the G.I. bill provides. Don’t argue that they spend too much money because Medicare spends $800 billion per year and does that provide for the common defense of our nation? No. Does that create jobs? No. War is not a good thing, do not get me wrong. Although, fighting against terrorism is very necessary. It does not matter what we do in life. Nothing will matter if we are not armed. Countries will come and destroy us at any possible chance they get.
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DeleteDefinitely I agree the US defense spend most of the economic by admitting most of young men or women in the Army. Comparably to other countries, The United States spends far more than any other country on defense and security. Since 12 years ago, the base defense budget has soared from billion to billion — and that's before accounting for the primary costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. But now that those wars are ending and austerity is back in vogue, the Pentagon will have to start tightening its bell during this year. The major advantage of having a strong military is that other nations will treat you with respect or fear you (whatever you can call) and will always try to avoid a direct conflict with you. The other added benefit is that it also gives leverage in international negotiations and diplomacy.
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly disadvantages to joining the service, but I see it as an excellent opportunity to experience and be challenged and contribute in ways your peers who have never served will likely not experience ever or until they are much older. Another disadvantage some do not realize is that once they leave the military they lose the built in support network of available services - coworkers who will help you and understand you, legal support, financial support and advice, leadership and guidance, etc that is required to be available while you are in the military. On the outside world no one is there to catch you if you fail.