Is America “Weak?”
We are hearing lots of rhetoric these days about how America and its military are "weak.” The evidence, they say, is clear: Russia has invaded Ukraine, and just destroyed an American unmanned drone. China is flying spy balloons overhead, and will invade Taiwan any day now. North Korea is testing ICBMs, and Iran is threatening Israel. All this is happening because the U.S. is too “weak” to stop them.
Conservatives across the board are unanimous that all this unimpeded aggression is all Biden’s fault. Radio and TV Conservative pundit Sean Hannity likes to say our military is “decimated.” The Heritage Foundation, always Conservative to the bitter end, concurs: yep, the U.S. military is weak. Very weak. All Biden’s fault. Former President Trump has piped in, saying that only he can restore global respect to our military, and if he is not re-elected in 2024, that China will get more aggressive and World War III will ensue.
Let’s take a look at the real numbers: The U.S. military budget for 2023 is around $800 Billion. That is over 3% of our national GDP, and divides out to about $2600 annually for every man, woman, and child. As a portion of global military spending, the U.S. represents a whopping 38 percent. No other nation comes even close to that. China, in second place at $293 in U.S. Billions, is a mere 14% of global military spending. After that, global percentages drop to less than 4%.
Any way you slice it, doesn’t sound like the U.S. military is “decimated.”
Why the heck do U.S. taxpayers fork out so much cash for the military? It might have something to do with the fact that we are committed to defending 67 nations worldwide. Again - no other nation comes close to attempting that kind of global dominance.
The standard justification for all this military largesse is that it’s in our “national interest.” What the heck does that mean? Well, it means exactly the same thing as the “common good” or the “public interest” (conservatives prefer the adjective “national” while liberals prefer “common” or “public”). But it’s all the same thing, which in actuality means: nothing. Thus it can mean whatever you want it to mean.
Another term that Conservatives love to toss out is “enemies.” Our enemies want to destroy us! We must be ready to fight our enemies! When spoken with great vigor, I suppose the word stirs up the fire in the belly and make one yearn to go fight a war someplace.
What they fail to grasp is that the reason that the United States became a great nation is because of our culture of free enterprise and limited government - NOT because we’re some swaggering buckeroo with the biggest, baddest military on the planet that loves to go fight wars and kick some butt!
George Washington, a true patriot if there ever was one, urged “peace and honest commerce with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” Thomas Jefferson echoed the phrase later. Nowhere in the Constitution is there so much as a hint that the military has a role outside our borders. If politicians followed accordingly, we wouldn’t have all these “enemies.” And our national budget and tax burden would be several $Hundred Billions less.
And so now the Conservatives are planning to commit American soldiers, and American taxpayers, to defending the tiny island nation of Taiwan, should China invade. Why? Well it’s in our “national interest!” Oh and if we don’t, we look “weak.”
Another stated reason for fighting over Taiwan has something to do with the computer chips they manufacture there. So lemme get this straight: our government is willing to go to war for what is, essentially, a product? “But computer chips are important!!” they say. Yeah, well lots of things are important. But the purpose of the military is not to prop up some special interest group or market - in this case, buyers of computer chips. The advocates of this madness have no clue how the free market works. Here’s a primer: when the supply goes down, the price goes up. That encourages producers to produce more and consumers to demand less, thus restoring balance. What an amazing system!
Back in 2003, these same arguments (oil is important!) were used to justify sending troops into Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of dead American soldiers, hundreds-of-thousands of dead Iraqis and Afghans, and $Trillions later, we look back and ask: why did we do that?
In Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s troops continue to bomb and murder and rape and terrorize civilians. Like many of my fellow countrymen, I too get infuriated at Russia. But cooler heads must prevail, and realize that sending in American troops will not make things better, to heck with looking “weak.”
Joe Biden, meanwhile, is indeed guilty for making America weak - but for a totally different reason: his profligate spending and over-regulation is sucking up the national wealth, debauching our currency, and destroying our economy. The only positive thing he’s done is to finally get the U.S. out of Afghanistan. Yes, the planning and execution and logistics were horribly sloppy, but at least he did accomplish something his predecessors could not do.
Now if America could only do the same for all the dozens of other places around the globe where our troops are stationed - and keep the tax dollars at home. Let the rest of the world fight its endless wars. Let our enemies destroy each other, while we watch from the sidelines - while with our military stands vigilant ready to defend the homeland from anyone who dares to try and harm us.
That, dear readers, is strength.
Post script: A viable alternative to using military force that is far less expensive and does not put troops in danger is the Information War. I’ll dwell on that in a future article.
Well, Joe Biden has stated on more than one occasion that the US would defend Taiwan if China invades, so it's not just conservatives who are for this idea.
Measuring a military by the number of Dollars spent is a fatal mistake.