War and liberty

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes … known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. ~ James Madison, Political Observations, 1795

Like other great duties in history, it will require decades of patient effort, and it will be resisted by those whose only hope for power is through the spread of violence. ~ Dick Cheney, speaking about the War on Terror, 2005

I think decades-long wars, even “wars on terror” constitute “continual warfare.”  And I think that the war on terror is little more than a surge in a much larger defense rebound following the end of the Cold War.  As I’ve noted previously, the defense lobby is absurdly powerful, and every decrease in defense spending has been historically countered soon after.  You can see the dollars dropping in this chart, and then rising again as the GWOT ramps up:

Some key points:

• World military expenditure in 2008 is estimated to have reached $1.464 trillion in current dollars (just over $1.2 trillion in 2005 constant dollars, as per above graph);
• This represents a 4 per cent increase in real terms since 2007 and a 45 per cent increase over the 10-year period since 1999;
• This corresponds to 2.4 per cent of world gross domestic product (GDP), or $217 for each person in the world;
• The USA with its massive spending budget, is the principal determinant of the current world trend, and its military expenditure now accounts for just under half of the world total, at 41.5% of the world total.

Of course we already know that the United States spends the most on defense.  The wars we currently find ourselves embroiled in seem more like reasons to justify the size of these budgets than causes in and of themselves.  But it’s one of those things we know so well that we barely spend time thinking about it.  Nothing has cost the United States more than war – both in terms of dollars and liberty.

Which is why I like Rortybomb’s idea: put defense taxes as a separate line-item on peoples’ pay stubs.

The most likely way we’re going to cut back on defense spending is to point out to people how much money they could pocket if we scaled back that spending.  You have to kill the abstract understanding of the defense budget and bring it down to the individual level.  Tax cuts sell, plain and simple.