Of course, as Americans, we understand a lie when we hear one. His administration has voiced, through Vice President Biden, our excuse for leaving-we are not running out on the Afghans we are handing their country back to an Afghan government which is stepping up to take our place, to keep order and to lay justice on the Afghan people. President Obama has vowed to end the war in Afghanistan and Mad Dog believes he wants to do this, if for no other reason than its effect on our economy. They found out later just what monster they had brought down.īut since the end of World War II, we have been in more or less continuous war-with a brief hiatus during the Clinton years.īut in most of the wars since WWII, we found ourselves in quagmires, unable to even say what winning is. We were a force for good in the world, even if most of the men who fought in that war did not know it when they joined. As racist and exploitative as England and France and even the United States were, they could not hold a candle to what Germany had degenerated into. That was a war which expunged the bad blood.Īnd it was a good we joined the battle against Hitler in 1942. Had the Union won quickly, as it could have but for the incompetence of various generals, in 1862 or 1863, the South would not have been as exhausted or convinced of its defeat. No avoiding it, and the fact it was as long and destructive as it was was important because we had to exhaust ourselves and realize no institution or States Right notion was worth that cost. The war we fought among ourselves from 1861-1865 was a war we had to fight. And they add whatever they can to Medicare and Social Security to make that look larger.īefore we can really understand the debate about whether we need to cut spending or increase income, Mad Dog suspects, we need to actually see what we are spending and on what.Ĭreative accounting likely plays a subterranean role here. Presumably, the Republican/Tea party/ Conservative Think Tank types split off anything they can from "defense" to make that slice of the pie look smaller. Is terrorism, the CIA, the NSA in "defense" or in "protection?" Should Veteran's Administration be in "Health" for the VA hospitals or in "Defense?" Or should it be in" pensions?" If you added up "defense" "veterans" "protection" then the defense slice would be bigger than Medicare. What is included in "protection" is not clear. "Education" is surprisingly, gratifyingly, large. Agriculture and farm subsidies look surprisingly small. With all the money we can see spent at the Portsmouth Naval Yard and in Norfolk Virginia and in the districts of the Tea Party Republicans from California to Pennsylvania, it is surprising that slice of the pie isn't bigger. The cost of a soldier's prosthetic leg is a cost of war, not a social security benefit. Notable, is how little defense spending takes up compared to other programs in some charts-as low as 14% in some and as large as 19% in others and even in those where it is 19% Veterans benefits are separated from defense spending, which of course is a little irrational. Creative accounting.ĭouble click on them to make them more readable. They seem to reflect subtle differences in how conservatives and liberals see the same numbers. These charts are from different websites, government, conservative think tanks, Mother Jones. Mad Dog is still trying to track down where we allocate our funds as a people.
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