Recently, Fox News did a special (hosted by Bret Baier) titled “Rising Threats- Shrinking Military” on the status of America’s national security. One topic discussed during the show was the reduction of the size of America’s Armed Forces.
Reducing the size of the military has been an ongoing policy of the Obama Administration, despite the various threats to America and its allies. But it should be noted that the Obama Administration is picking up where the Clinton Administration left off in regards to military cutbacks and social experiments.
According to Robert “Buzz” Patterson’s book Dereliction of Duty: An Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America’s National Security, during the first three years of the Clinton Administration, the size of the military was reduced from 2.1 million personnel to 1.6 million personnel, while at the same time launching an increase in overseas deployments. The Army was reduced from eighteen divisions to twelve divisions, the number of ships in the Navy was reduced from 546 to 380 (the goal was to reduce the number to 300 ships), and the Air Force was reduced from 76 flight squadrons to 50 flight squadrons.
In addition to these cutbacks, a pay reduction was applied to 80% of all military personnel, forcing many of them with dependents to rely on food stamps. Meanwhile, politically correct policies were adopted, such as the inclusion of gays as well as affirmative action. At one point, according to Thomas E. Woods Jr.’s book The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, special permission was needed in the Department of Defense for any Caucasian, heterosexual male to receive a promotion.
Needless to say, these cutbacks need to stop. In fact, our military needs to be strengthened and increased in size. It needs the best personnel, equipment, etc. And it can put the battleships and F-14s back into service.
Of course, how will the military be able to increase its size given the national debt? The solution is simple: a restructuring of the federal government. The Postal Service can be privatized, as could the Smithsonian, AMTRAK, FDIC, NASA, the Social Security Administration, and the TVA (just to name a few). The Department of Education and the Department of Energy can be abolished, as could the IRS, the TSA (which can be replaced with private security companies), the Federal Reserve, the Export-Import Bank, etc.
If America is to counter the threats in today’s world, then it must have a strong military.
Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Air_Force_355th_Security_Force_Squadron_guardsman.jpg
