Introduction
Most of the economic decisions made by the key players in the US government are usually fallacious in the sense that, all decisions made exhibit pure partisanship considering the fact that this is an election year. For instance, the Republicans are currently criticizing and blaming President Obama’s administration for the current crisis and the economic downfall. Surprisingly enough, this is not a new thing in US politics. During the previous regime, the democrats were the ones criticizing the republicans during Bush’s era. President Obama proposed pentagon’s budget last week and this affirmed America’s intentions to retain most of its overseas military missions. This means that the taxpayer will still pay for the military operations, which are deemed as unnecessary by the republicans.
Republicans Criticism and Democrats View of Military Funding
Senator John McCain and Rep. Howard McKeon suggested that, the proposed pentagon budget and the released strategy document was meant to convince most of Americas allies that, America will still continue persecuting and solving most of the global conflicts. The main concern of the republican, though not clearly stated out, is that the government is spending its taxpayers’ money on military operations that do not, in any way, directly affect its security or safe guard it from its potential enemies.
The pentagon strategy suggested that, some US troops will be withdrawn from Europe and at the same time increase the troops in Asia. About 70,000 troops will remain in different parts of Europe to assist respective allied countries in maintaining their security. Republicans argue out that some of these European countries do not spend enough money on their defense forces, and they are more than capable of funding their military and protecting themselves. Considering the fact that US military is concerned with global security, the Republicans pointed out that Obama’s administration has made US military act as the global policemen. This according to them is not a bad idea but, their main concern is how the American citizen tax money is used in funding operations which do not directly benefit them.
On the other hand, the Democrats (Obama’s administration) suggested that the allegations made by the republicans were political considering that this is an election year. They supported their argument by pointing out some of the achievements of the US military. Some of these achievements include the assassination Osama Bin Laden (the leader of Al Qaeda) and the ending of the Iraqi war. The democrats suggested that the democrats were only concerned about their own Jib security and not the Job security of the American people.
It is important to note that, the extravagant military funding was not initiated by the democrats but buy the Republicans during President Bush’s era. This was after the war on terrorism was declared. In other words, the republicans were criticizing others for their own actions. The issue of over spending on overseas military operations, if it is really a problem, can only be solved by viewing it from a neutral point of view. In other words, the pure partisanship of the politicians leads to fallacious judgments.
Conclusion
The external military operation, come with both costs and benefits to the Americans. Considering the economic status (e.g. the 1.2 trillion debt increase), the government should try as much as possible to reduce their spending and increase their revenue. While doing this, they should also consider the costs of doing away with some of the funded operations.