Point/Counterpoint: Is Trump’s proposed increase in military spending compatible with limited-government principles?
The R Street Institute and the National Taxpayers Union, conservative organizations, issued a report in 2013 with 100 specific recommendations for the military that would save $1.9 trillion over 10 years. The report notes that “Pentagon expenditures must not escape scrutiny as conservatives examine methods for reducing our staggering debt.”
The report is correct. Trump, however, ignores the reality of our nation’s debt. In his recent address to Congress, Trump declared that he is “sending the Congress a budget that rebuilds the military, eliminates the defense sequester and calls for one of the largest increases in national defense spending in American history.”
The phrase “largest increase in spending in American history” should never be uttered by anyone who pretends to believe in limited government. But, then again, Trump clearly does not so believe. R Street and the NTU, however, do. Their recommendations specifically “allow for compliance with so-called sequestration while maintaining the strongest and most capable military the world has ever known.” That, my friends, is limited government.
