The Department of Defense Is Our Ultimate Safety Net

The Chicago Tribune reported yesterday on the budget proposal by House Republicans for the federal government’s fiscal year budget 2016, which starts October 1, 2015:

“House Republicans released a 2016 spending blueprint Tuesday that seeks to fulfill the GOP goal of balancing the budget in 10 years, but does so by slashing Medicare and other safety net programs while dramatically boosting military spending.”

While there are lots of problems with this sentence (see the footnote below), I want to focus on the most important, which is a point that I have made many times before (here, here, and here): The first job of the federal government is to defend the United States.  The preamble of the Constitution makes that clear:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” (emphasis added)

I understand that “provid[ing] for the common defense” includes more than guns or even the Defense Department.  It includes diplomacy, international assistance, and all of the other things that can help protect the United States.  Still, the point is, that, if the federal government does not provide for the common defense, by attending to all of these parts of our common defense, then many of the other things it may decide to do won’t be that important.

I am definitely not saying we should just throw money at the Defense Department.  There is no reason, other than Representatives and Senators trying to get reelected, that we should be spending money on bases we don’t need or weapons systems that are too expensive or too few in number, among other things. 

Our “common defense” money needs to be spent wisely – because it isn’t unlimited and there are many needs.  However, the fact that there are many needs does not mean our “common defense” doesn’t come first.  It does.  It must.  Because our “common defense, including especially the Defense Department and our military forces, is our most important “safety net.”
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Footnote:  As I said, there are lots of problems in the wording of this sentence.  By the verbs and adverbs she picks, the writer makes her political views pretty clear.  “Slashing” Medicare, etc.  Well, maybe, if by “slashing” you mean increases lower than the trend line of what would otherwise occur if current law continued unchanged forever.  Similarly, “dramatically” boosting military spending.  One person’s “dramatic” is another person’s necessary expenditures because of past cuts and increased threats.