Hello All,
Been a while since my last post. I've been paying close attention to current affairs in utter disbelief. Because so many issues are at hand, I'll be brief with my critique and proposed solutions.
1. Defense cuts: Obama Administration proposes "deep cuts" in manpower and some minor cuts to pay raises and benefits. The typical war hawks and proponents of the military industrial complex say that these will make us weaker and more vulnerable in the realm of national security. Plus, veterans support groups say that we "shouldn't be trying to balance the budget on the backs of the troops."
Not that I completely agree with what the Obama administration is proposing, but I definitely don't agree with rhetoric coming from the opposing camp. Here's why. We don't fight attrition warfare anymore. Power in numbers died on Armistice Day. Furthermore, personnel costs are the highest costs in the defense budget. Now, I would propose some cuts to foreign bases first, but that's a different matter altogether. Bottom line, we don't need our current troop numbers. I could go on and on about the thousands of useless billets occupying the dozens of useless layers of military bureaucracy. But that would bore you by paragraph two. The point is, we can truly afford big cuts to personnel numbers without weakening our military capabilities.
On the benefits piece, I have mentioned my stance before. We veterans have become quite unionesque. We already get an amazing G.I. Bill. We get paid and fed well, can't get fired even if we're lazy and do the bare minimum to get by. We have amazing retirement and medical benefits. So even though we have to put up with a lot of crap and sacrifice a lot, we get compensated pretty well for it. This doesn't even take into account the massive nonprofit sector benefits we have access to. And even if we didn't, it wouldn't matter. Last time I checked, we were supposed to be "serving" our country, not ourselves. If you join the military for money and benefits, you're nothing more than a mercenary.
2. Russia, Ukraine, Syria, etc...
Once again, we are getting involved in places we shouldn't. Giving American taxpayers' money to the new Ukrainian government, threatening sanctions against Putin's Russia, and just adding fuel to the fire. Seriously? We have people calling this the "New Cold War." Come on! Do we need another war? Do you know that there are neighborhoods in America where kids literally walk to school wearing bullet proof vests? Sounds like a war zone at home to me. That billion dollar check John Kerry handed over to Ukraine might do a lot more for us here at home.
3. Gay rights
Come on Kentucky and Arizona! Don't you have something better to worry about than whether Steve and Steve, or Jane and Jane suck face at night? In my opinion, the government has no role in defining marriage at all. Why should married people (gay or straight) get more government benefits than single people? That's really what it all boils down to anyway. You get tax breaks when you're married. Enough said. Moving on to more important issues....
4. Debt, Deficit, Taxes, Unemployment...
Over the past few years, several prominent leaders and pundits have said that the number one threat to national security is the federal budget deficit/debt problem. I believe they're right. Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's any feasible solution, short of invading all of the countries we're indebted to and taking them out and then having a provision in the subsequent peace treaty that relieves us of all of our debt (joking). However, what we could do is balance the budget, and even get a surplus in tax revenue via tax and entitlement reform. If you don't know about the "Fairtax," then you need to look it up. A lot of people don't even bother reading about it because most of the literature comes from the far right. But it is actually an amazing idea. We get rid of all income taxes, medicare/medicaid, and social security deductions, and then implement a national sales tax. Now, this is just a short summation, so you'd actually have to read up on it to get the total picture. But think about it, a national sales tax, which according to many bipartisan studies, would generate much more revenue than our current tax code. It gets rid of the IRS. Nobody would file taxes anymore or get a tax return. The more you spend, the more you pay. Liberals should love this since they want the rich to pay more. Right wingers should love it because you don't get penalized for being more successful. What I like about it is that EVERYONE pays, from the Wall Street yuppy, to the little kid buying a new iPod. If you shop in America, you pay into the federal system. Think about all the cash business folks that don't pay taxes (migrant workers, strippers, drug dealers, etc.), and then all the people who still shop but don't work, or at least not here (tourists, kids, housewives, etc.). They would all pay into the system.
This leads to medicare, medicaid, and social security. As it stands now, everyone who works pays into these programs and then gets to use them once they reach a certain age. Do you think Mitt Romney, Bill Gates, or Jay-Z really need to collect their social security checks or medicare benefits? Probably not. So we need to turn those programs into ones where only the needy get to collect those benefits. The current system where people see line item deductions on their paychecks only gets people to associate those deductions with not needing to worry about retirement planning. Let's bring back self-reliance and personal accountability.
I'm sure you all bored out of your mind with politics by now, so til next time, stay conscience. By the way, Texas had the primary votes yesterday. Pretty interesting. I think David Dewhurst (the 3 term Lt. Governor) is going down. Just my prediction though.
Semper Fi,
Chris Bentley
