More of the Same on Defense Spending Posted by Michael Cohen

I'm a bit late to the game on this one, but Tuesday Robert Kagan had an op-ed in the Washington Post calling for . . . surprise, surprise more money for defense spending.

Kagan employs the same tired rationales that DSZs (defense spending zealots) always seem to fall back on; like our enemies won't fear us if we cut spending and our allies won't trust us. (Right, because the fact that we already spend more on our military than every other major military power in the world combined is not intimidating enough.) 

Kagan also makes the "interesting" argument that Republicans will be unlikely to support foreign aid if they don't see increases in defense spending - so in order to get more money for development and democratization assistance we have to waste billions upon billions of dollars elsewhere. Only in Washington would this be considered a logical argument.

But above all, what is really missing from Kagan's argument is any kind of strategic rationale for why we need more defense spending. Instead of asking the all important question of what we want our military to do or how should the military be constructed to deal with 21st century security challenges, Kagan's answer is the same one we've been hearing for more than a generation: spend, spend, spend. .  

This is not to say, of course, that all defense spending is bad. Far from it. But just once I would like to hear Kagan or others who advocate for more defense spending explain how more money on tanks, planes and ships makes Americans more secure. 

Comments

[Don Bacon]

There are more powerful people than Kagan calling for increased Pentagon corporate welfare spending -- like Carol Shea-Porter and her usually penurious friends.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, the entire Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations united in a joint effort to create new, good-paying jobs at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) in Kittery, Maine. In a letter to the Secretary of the Navy and the Chief of Naval Operations, the bipartisan group of lawmakers urged the Department of Navy to increase the permanent workforce at the Maine-based shipyard to help mitigate weakness in the regional labor market and increase overall employee productivity and quality of life.
--posted by Carol Shea-Porter, 1st District, NH

So there are 435 little elves working on Santa's Pentagon presents.

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Kagan's argument is any kind of strategic rationale for why we need more defense spending. Instead of asking the all important question of what we want our military to do or how should the military be constructed to deal with 21st century security challenges.