The false liberal narrative is that we have some insane, unimaginable defense budget that is "bloated", "unnecessary", and "wasteful". They of course follow that false narrative up with "take that money and use it on public assistance". And that is why they are lying about the defense budget. Because the socialist "public assistance" agenda is unsustainable. It is bankrupting this nation and the left doesn't want to let go of it. So they create a false narrative about something (defense) which is not only exponentially more vital, but also the constitutional responsibility of the federal government.
The military has actually been forced under Barack Obama to scavenge
museums for the airplane parts they need to keep their aircrafts flying. That is absolutely inexcusable. It's something one would expect from the Soviet Union as they were collapsing - not from the world's elite super-power. And it is the result of liberals gutting the defense budget over and over and over while throwing trillions of dollars at the welfare class in order to purchase votes.
The men and women who server in our military deserve much better than this. They deserve the best. The best supply chain. The best parts. The best technology. The best equipment. And the best benefits (healthcare, education, etc.). Traditionally, the military has voted Republican for this very reason. The left should be ashamed at how they not only treat our military (which is worse than dirt) but also how they advocate to take more money from them and treat them even worse than they do now. Not only should we not cut the defense budget one penny more - we should increase the defense budget at
least 50% (if not double it).
- Marine Corps mechanics have had to scavenge F-18 parts from museums to keep their planes flying. Even with the scavenging, only 30% of those F-18s are ready to fly today. Unfortunately, similar serious challenges face all the military services.
- The 2016 Index of U.S. Military Strength looked at the size, capabilities, and readiness of each part of the military and concluded that as a package the military is only “marginal” in its ability to protect America.
Congress Must Act Now to Start Rebuilding the US Military
"Obama has gutted the military" is a phrase commonly bandied about by the right in America. But has he really? Doesn't it make sense that the military budget decline reflects the fact that America is disengaging from two major wars, Iraq and Afghanistan?
Also, in 2013 WaPo said this about public opinion;
"Back in May, the Stimson Center unveiled the results of a new survey asking U.S. voters about their views on defense spending. As it turns out, Democratic, Republican and independent voters all want to cut military spending far more severely than the sequester would and far, far more severely than either party has proposed. Congress isn't likely to pay much attention here, but it's a reminder that defense cuts tend to be extremely popular."
And;
"Since 2001, the base defense budget has soared from $287 billion to $530 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 belt in 2013 and beyond."
U.S. "Defense" spending compared to the rest of the world circa 2007-8.
I don't think it's so much "liberal lies" as a genuine debate about the nature of the society desired by various groups. Generally I think a large percentage of American conservatives lean towards a neocon vision of the U.S. military where it should be powerful enough to impose American economic hegemony on a global scale. This obviously has nothing to do with "spreading democracy" as a scan of the Authoritarian regimes that the U.S. arms and supports proves. And Cui Bono? Who benefits? The financiers who produce the money, the Multi-Nationals (not necessarily American) who produce the weapons, the Oil and gas giants that fuel the beast, again - the 1%.
There seems to be a kind of multiple personality conflict in many conservatives who claim to embrace Libertarian ideals in most areas and yet are vigorously opposed to the strict libertarian philosophy of defending the homeland and otherwise "minding our own business". Does today's conservative believe more in an "Offense" budget than a "Defense" budget?
2013 comparison of U.S. "Defense" spending vs. Rest of World.
Here are a few questions an American liberal might ask;
1) Why does the U.S. have to police the world, shouldn't it demand that every other nation pay it's fair share in the Global fight against terrorism? Right now terrorism is really the only major active threat isn't it?
2) How much of the military budget is in reality "pork" that congress people and senators fiercely defend as election goodies for voters in their home districts. For example the Army has repeatedly requested a freeze in spending on building and upgrading the Abrams tank and yet in 2015 congress pushed through 120 million dollars in the budget for that purpose.
"In a statement, Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said that Congress "recognizes the necessity of the Abrams tank to our national security and authorizes an additional $120 million for Abrams tank upgrades. This provision keeps the production lines open in Lima, Ohio, and ensures that our skilled, technical workers are protected." That's from Military.com And this;
"The tank debate between the Army and Congress goes back to 2012 when Odierno (General Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff) testified that "we don't need the tanks. Our tank fleet is two and a half years old on average now. We're in good shape and these are additional tanks that we don't need." Congress people trade these favors and the unneeded weapons projects continue to mount.
"In 2009, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress the defense spending bill contained $6.9 billion for things he did not need. Congress approved it anyway." - http://www.businessinsider.com/congress-approves-useless-military-spending-2013-5
I think that $6.9 billion would turn out to be the tip of the iceberg if a group of unbiased experts that
weren't the
SecDef examined the budget.
3) Are the expensive new upgrades to the Nuclear Triad going to make the U.S. less safe by encouraging a competition between the major powers, possibly launching a dangerous new Cold War? People like former Defense Secretary William Perry testified on Capitol Hill yesterday,
"We're now today on the threshold of a new Cold War. We're on the threshold of a new nuclear arms race, and in addition but not related to that there's a rising threat of nuclear terrorism and a regional nuclear war," former Defense Secretary William Perry said. "For all these reasons, I assert today the likelihood of a nuclear catastrophe is actually greater than it was during the Cold War. Perry, who served as Pentagon chief from 1993 to 1997, supported a modernization of the country's nuclear triad, but said that could be done without the LRSO. "We can reject a modernization program that would increase the risk of a nuclear war by accident or miscalculation,"
4)I don't have to quote Eisenhower's warning about the Military/Industrial complex, anybody interested in the issues raised in the OP is familiar with it, although I don't think enough conservatives take it as seriously as it deserves. War profiteering has been around almost since man picked up his first weapon. So - how much of the pressure on Congress to increase military spending comes from the billionaire donors that, even by Donald Trumps contention, pull the strings of these congress people?
5) And how much effect have these same billionaires had on conservative public opinion through the politics of fear spread by controlled Mass Media and their relentless drumbeat of security, security, security. Examples of the spread of disinformation leading the American people towards accepting the entrenching of Militarism in their psyche and in the nation are glaring to anybody paying attention. See my avatar.
I could come up with many more questions but I think these define the divide between those who think society should be more concerned with positives like education and economic mobility and a healthy environment rather than those things that drive the fruits of a productive people upwards to the "1%" and not to reinvigorating a morbid middle class. Remember, a cold war fuels an endless need to replace "obsolete" weapons with new. And better yet -for the war profiteers - a hot war disposes of millions of tons of killing machines and replacing that arsenal of death only makes the rich obscenely more rich while killing off the cream of the younger generation. Check out the chicken hawks who usually demand these wars and their war records, usually in our generation of chicken hawks it's a record of deferment after deferment. What was Cheney's number? 5 or 6?