My basic political philosophy can be summed up as this: we are not nearly as rich as we think we are. I believe that is evident at home with expensive entitlement programs that are bankrupting the nation. It is also evident abroad as the maintenance of our empire continually drains us of blood and treasure.
The day of reckoning when the bills must be paid is rapidly approaching.
I agree as to the latter part of your statement, Conn. America’s budget can’t keep up with our current rate of spending, and it is clear that we have to reign in the spending. I agree with Pat Buchanan to the extent that we need to seriously cut back on our foreign spending. You can argue all you want that entitlement programs are bankrupting the nation. But at least those programs are helping our own citizens and putting money into this nation’s economy. Foreign spending on the other hand does nothing to help our citizens. If the real goal of foreign spending is national security (i.e., to fight terrorists), can’t much of that foreign money be reinvested domestically to help fund homeland security projects?
Ralph Nader speaks directly to this point in the following interview with Bill O’Reilly last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=valQR9xTsIc
Although Nader is a colorful figure and I don’t agree with all of his viewpoints, he (as well as Buchanan) make a valid point when he argues that all the billions of dollars spent overseas could be more well spent in this country.
You can complain all you want about all of these entitlement programs, but the real problem is the overwhelming about of needless spending this country wastes overseas. Until this crisis is solved, I can’t take seriously the argument that entitlement spending is as serious a problem.
2nd, many of those entitlement programs are providing short-term benefits to Americans, but the reality of the situation is that they also contain the seeds of our disaster. By the time many of us retire in mid-century, the federal government won’t have the revenue to do anything more than pay interest on the debt we’ve accumulated from Medicare and Social Security. I agree we need to cut back abroad, but the real problem is domestic programs.
Trillions of dollars are being spent in the United States – that’s the crux of the problem.