Fox’s Stossel blasts Romney on “defense” spending
John Stossel writes for Fox News:
On his recent trip abroad, Mitt Romney observed an American taboo by not criticizing President Obama’s military policy. But before his trip, he made his position clear. Obama has “exposed the military to cuts that no one can justify,” Romney said.
He meant that unless Congress intervenes, Pentagon spending will be cut by more than $500 billion over 10 years under the (bipartisan) budget sequestration scheduled for January. This terrifies those who fear that limiting the growth of the military-industrial complex will leave us less safe.
But is that true? Even if $500 billion is actually cut, America still will spend more on defense — adjusted for inflation — than we did at the height of the Cold War and the Vietnam War. . . .
Since America is going broke, I thought defense was one area where Democrats might make cuts. But Democrats rarely cut anything. Obama says our troops won’t start leaving Afghanistan until 2014, and we’ll still be involved for years after that. . . .
I don’t presume to know the “right” amount to spend on defense. But I do know that when America is going broke, we can’t afford to spend what Romney wants to spend.
America needs to reevaluate the military’s mission. If the mission is to “provide for the common defense,” then let’s adopt a posture of defense. It needn’t cost so much to protect our shores while staying out of other people’s conflicts.