Texas Congressman and Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul took time off from campaigning on President's Day to react to President Obama's new 2013 budget proposal he issued last week to Congress and to the American people. In a response to items and increases laid out in the budget proposal, Congressman Paul's focus was on national security and how the continuing overseas nation building, along with the additional $1.33 trillion dollar in new debt, is threatening our society and economy.
The facts are that the President’s budget calls for an 18% increase versus the previously planned 20% increase. This is not a cut, yet Pentagon hawks continue to issue dire warnings that this "draconian" decrease in proposed future spending will seriously threaten our national security. In truth, the majority of DOD spending goes to protect other nations, including prosperous allies like Europe and Japan and South Korea - nations that could and should take more responsibility for their own defense.
Wasting money on overseas adventurism and nation building threatens our national security by massively contributing to our debt. Both welfare and warfare spending are tipping our economy into a serious currency and debt crisis. – Paul.House.Gov
Congressman Paul's assessment of our continuing military intervention in the affairs of other nations has been scrutinized and rejected by many in the media, as well as by fellow Republican candidates who fully support US sanctions and intervention against both Iran and Syria. His platforms of free trade and economy over military force are well documented and make up a portion of his overall economic beliefs.
Underlying the increases in federal spending are the potential costs that loom on the horizon should the US go to war with Iran over their nuclear program. Since 2003, a study by Brown University showed that costs for the War on Terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan have cost the US between $3 and 4 trillion dollars, which are appropriations above the annual defense budget funded each year by Congress.
With the national debt now over $15 trillion dollars, and President Obama's new budget proposal expected to add an additional $1.33 trillion to that number, Republicans and Democrats alike appear unwilling to change their military interventionist ways and help decrease spending after decades of nation building. Presidential candidate Ron Paul has become the lone advocate in both Congress, and on the campaign trail, who is willing to address this issue, and offer a viable alternative to the debt and foreign policies that are threatening America's national security.
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