by HUGH GUSTERSON
Congratulations to your movement for so quickly and fundamentally shifting the political debate in the United States. You have put a vital issue on the national agenda: the increasing share of our wealth as a nation that has been commandeered by the government, and the resulting budget deficits that are like a massive iceberg toward which our economic ship of state drifts at its peril.
But your movement is ignoring a major sinkhole for American taxpayers’ money. If you want to find rage-inspiring examples of government spending, there is no better place to look than the military budget. Here are some examples that should raise the blood pressure of any self-respecting Tea Partier:
* The US has over 100 military bases in Germany alone. These bases may have made sense when we feared a Soviet attack on Western Europe, but the Cold War ended 20 years ago. Why is American taxpayers’ money being spent on bases that stimulate the economy of Germany, while defending NATO against a threat that no longer exists? Gen. Roger Brady, who commands US air forces in Europe, says “we’ve got too many daggone bases,” and we could save millions of dollars by closing some of them. We should listen to our commander in Europe.
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists for more