I've been trying to avoid this issue for a long time. After all, you're not supposed to bring up sex, religion, or politics, (I guess because everyone is afraid of actually having good conversation) but as a political science major at North Carolina State University (GO PACK!) currently residing in Washington D.C., the time has come to defend my political views.
I am a Republican. Please, refrain from sobbing, screaming, cringing, or throwing rotten vegetables.
I am a Republican because most of the people in my life, some of whom I love very much, are in the military or planning to join the military and the Republican party supports the military better than the democratic party. Now, this is a free country and you are entitled to disagree with me, but allow me to explain myself.
Every Democratic representative I have researched thus far voted against the war in Iraq, but voted to send military forces to Afghanistan and is in favor of not only continuing our stay in the land of Afghans, but also wishes to continue searching for terrorist threats in Pakistan and have spoken positively about sending troops to Libya. However, the same representatives have continually voted against increasing military and department of defense funding. In fact, some wish to decrease it.
Now, can anyone find Waldo and what the hell is wrong with this picture? Whether you agree with any of the aforementioned conflicts is irrelevant, but please, no matter if you are a Libertarian, Communist, Socialist, Democrat, Independent, Green, please understand that we cannot fight the war on terror, or whatever the heck we're doing in Afghanistan or whatever we might do in Libya, on a shoe string budget. In fact, if we try, we risk putting the lives of U.S. troops in danger.
Republicans on the other hand, have continually voted to increase military spending and have drafted a 2012 budget that will increase department of defense funding by
4%. Knowing that my family, my friends, my neighbors, and their, family, friends, and neighbors will have funding to be well equipped in combat is what keeps the nightmares at bay.
So, to all the people out there that have made faces every time I have owned up to my right wing status; now you know, I bleed red in hopes that others won't have to..
I swear Grace, you have the most inspiring blogs. I absolutely love reading them :) Hope all is well in D.C.! I know you're loving every minute of it!!
ReplyDelete<3 Britt
Cutting the defense budget doesn't put the lives of U.S. troops in danger, sending them to Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., does. Compare American military spending to that of other nations (ex: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures). 4% of the defense budget is a large sum of money - money that the U.S. desperately needs. With the state of the economy/national deficit, something's got to give.
ReplyDeleteWe could be friends, you could be an adult I respect very much and so I ask that those relationships survive the most likely disrespectful comments that will follow.
ReplyDelete1. I am not incompetant. Budget cuts don't kill troops, bullets kill troops so if you want to cut down on expenditures because you think we spend too much money on our military-educate yourself and start voting for representatives that want to end our involvment in all conflicts all over the world. You will be hard pressed to do so however, seeing that both democrats and republicans are trying to keep our troops in the Middle East.
2. If you want me to take you seriously, do not cite wikipedia. The reason the department of defense gets the majority of U.S. funding is because our military is what keeps us a super power. Other countries have yet to compare to our military prowess and do not have as much capital as we do to invest in their military. (I will admit however that if the European Union ever decides to band together, we're toast).
3. I sat in a 3 hour meeting at the government accountability office with the woman that congress has appointed to investigate the debt crisis. They have also intrusted her with coming up with solutions. She has done her job well and decided that if Americans really want to seriously start paying off our deficit, we should rally to raise taxes and accept that government funded programs must suffer cuts in order to make any significant progress. However, the American people are willing to do neither, so Congress is not willing to act because all of them want to keep their jobs.
So really, if you want to see the deficit declin and the money for the department of defense spread around, pay some more taxes and vote for representatives that won't send our troops overseas and in harms way.
I agree with the points Grace is making. while yes Mr.Anonymous budgets do not change the actual conflicts it must be common knowledge to most that a 4% increase could save lives nothing we use is cheap and yes we are in debt and yes we are also a bit hard to persuade to actually pay higher taxes. In the end we can be sure of two things one that we are alive and free today. and tomorrow is going to be a new day and if you want to continue living like today then we kind of need the good guys with the best money can buy to keep the bad guys away or we could always put you out there(joking, but seriously besides my lack of punctuation i have to say that conflict will never be resolved there will always be conflict. whether representatives vote on it or not America is pretty much the worlds Big Brother and we stand up for our Little Brothers and Sisters it makes me feel better knowing my family in the military is not sitting in a fox hole with only fatigues and a tin hat. Other than that Mr. Anonymous people are greedy I'll tell you right now i don't want higher taxes no one does it it is out of our control sure everything is in the poo-can as far as the economy goes, but as sure as global warming is a natural cause im sure with enough time we can eventually get over it as well. Good points by the way Grace oh and BOO PACK! Go Spartans! lol.
ReplyDeleteMain flaw to Anonymous' argument? Citing Wikipedia... come on people.
ReplyDelete@Grace
ReplyDelete1. Look into that budget, and investigate how much of it is going to providing American soldiers with the equipment they need versus how much of it is going to contracts with private corporations who make fortunes off of putting the very soldiers whom you are worried about protecting into harm's way. War profiteering and the the military-industrial complex are no joke.
2. Wikipedia is a quick, easily-read reference. If you want more legitimate "citations," follow the citations of the linked article or do research yourself. Frankly, discrediting my argument on the basis of "citing Wikipedia" is an intellectual cop-out.
3. I'm not sure how you can determine that "She has done her job well." That aside, yes, it's fairly common knowledge either that cuts must be made, taxes must be raised, or both.
@Josh America is not the world's "Big Brother." That type of attitude is responsible for our often-negative portrayal amongst the international community. The "good guys" are not engaged in conflicts overseas to "keep the bad guys away." They're primarily there because people profit from war.
As a member of the middle class (assuming you are) you are essentially a wage slave of advanced capitalism. Many would argue that you aren't really "free" at all.
Also, global warming as a natural cause? Please.