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EXCEPT FOR THE MILITARY, OF COURSE
Nothing annoys me more (well, almost nothing) than a Republican
starting a discussion about budget cuts by saying: “Everything must be on the table, except for the
military, of course”. With that statement, the only part of the budget that can easily be cut
is eliminated at the start. Can it possibly be right to keep Social Security, Medicare, education,
crime and drugs “on the table”, but not the military budget? Of course not! To make it worse, the area
with the most waste and graft is, you guessed it, the military budget. We do not need a war in Iraq,
or a star wars missile defense system, or all of those overseas bases. We do not need to pay the
salaries of the Baghdad fire department while we are forced to close fire stations in the City
of New York.
George Bush's budget proposal contains cuts in education funding,
food assistance for pregnant women, environmental protection, AIDS treatment, child-care assistance,
food stamps, Medicaid and so on. However, its full speed ahead as far as lucrative contracts for
Bush’s corporate pals to “rebuild” Iraq. It now appears as if these deals may have been a part of
Bush’s original rationale for going into Iraq in the first place.
War expenses are made more damaging by the administration’s tax cuts for the wealthy,
causing a ballooning budget deficit that severely endangers our ephemeral economic recovery. The bill
will eventually have to be paid with interest, but this responsibility will fall to future generations
of middle income Americans.
LHS
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