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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs
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To: DuckTapeSunroof who wrote (44172)7/14/2010 3:37:39 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (1) of 71588
 
Yes the military is also "big government", It costs a lot of money, and in fact is still one of our biggest government programs. But it really isn't the problem that we have with big government. First of all its become a smaller and smaller portion of our federal spending (and a smaller portion of the GDP), while other programs have generally gone the other direction.



from heritage.org

Secondly, while the level of military spending is always a legitimate and important subject of debate, having a military isn't an example of big government in terms of how many areas government takes power and responsibility over. Having a military and generally providing security is pretty much an inherent part of being a government (yes some countries don't have a standing military, but they tend to have quasi-military police forces, military reserve forces, and/or explicit or implicit security guarantees from other nations). Having military power is without a doubt, both on general principles, and in terms of constitutional limitations, a legitimate responsibility of the federal government. The same can not be said about most of the other things the federal government does.

None of which implies that we need to spend as much as we do. The proper level of spending is a complex question with no simple right answer.

other forms of spending increased as well.

Yes, and much more so than military spending increased. That's a problem IMO.
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