The High Cost and Low Price of Freedom

Our son John is beginning his fifth week of boot camp at Parris Island. Old fashioned, hold-in-your-hand letters are the only contact we have with him. Thankfully, he's a good correspondent and his letters -- for the most part -- are upbeat. He's homesick, hot, 10 pounds thinner, and has a new appreciation for family, friends, and hot showers that last longer than five minutes. Other than that, he seems to be doing OK. His experiences with "the world's scariest people" (drill instructors), quarter-decking (ask a Marine), and learning to eat with his right hand (he's a southpaw) without looking at his food are written with humor and self-deprecation.

In a gesture of support for John, my husband, our youngest daughter, and I recently ran in a 5K at Marine Corps Base Quantico. The run wound around the base, through the Town of Quantico, and alongside the Potomac River, and a variety of bands along the scenic route provided encouragement. As my husband joked afterward, in typical Marine fashion it was uphill all the way (despite retracing our path several times).

We stayed the night at the on-base Marine Corps inn. Military lodges are available to service retirees and vacationing active-duty members on a space-available basis for a reasonable cost. The rooms were large, clean, and comfortable: a far cry from the military lodges we stayed in early on during our active-duty days. In the 1980s, many of those inns were decrepit and run-down.

That has changed for the better in recent years -- in fact on-base military housing and quality-of-life standards in general have improved dramatically. The Department of Defense (DOD) is working hard to upgrade all substandard housing (believe me, there was some really sub-substandard housing at one time!). The results have been admirable -- and expensive -- but it is only right that comfortable and attractive housing be provided to our military families.

Money for on-base housing comes out of the defense budget -- which currently constitutes about 20 percent of the federal budget. The DOD does a lot with the $515 billion in discretionary funds allocated to it. Just for starters, those dollars pay for ongoing operations across much of the globe, weapons systems, civilian and military salaries, training, housing, and medical expenses. They pay for the upkeep of bases and facilities and new equipment. The budget funds every branch of the military -- including the Coast Guard. At less than two-thirds the amount of the yet-to-stimulate stimulus bill, the all-volunteer military protects our country (and many other countries); takes young kids and returns mature, productive members to society; and spends immeasurable dollars in every locale and state that hosts a base. In fact, Americans get a pretty good bang for their military buck.

(The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are funded with supplementary dollars -- not discretionary funds. In fairness, many have pointed out that funding for the Veterans Administration and nuclear arms research, which goes to the Department of Energy, should be counted as defense spending. When those costs are added, military-related spending comes to roughly $1 trillion annually.)

One thing about defense spending: Although it continues to grow in real dollars, it actually has decreased in the percentage of the federal budget it consumes. In 1970, defense gobbled up about 46 percent of the budget. During the idyllic post-Gulf War, pre-9/11 years, the numbers hovered between 16.9 and 17.9 percent of the budget. Even today, at about 20 percent, defense spending is lower than it was at any time between 1941 and 1992.

In terms of GDP, spending on defense has fallen steadily. In 1980, nearly 6 percent of the GDP went to defense. Today, defense's share is about 4 percent. By 2014, it is estimated the defense budget will decline to little more than 3 percent of GDP. In light of the fact that providing for the national defense is one of the few things the Constitution actually requires Congress to fund -- it's a pretty fair price to pay.

On the other hand, entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid -- those mandatory expenditures (so-called because they are expenses funded by permanent appropriations) -- currently gobble up well over 11 percent of GDP. That's equal to about 65 percent of our federal budget. And they continue to grow rapidly. In a grim message to the public, the Trustees Report on Social Security and Medicare states: "The financial condition of the Social Security and Medicare programs remains challenging. Projected long run program costs are not sustainable under current program parameters." Social Security reserves will be gone by 2037. Medicare is even scarier, with reserves forecast to be exhausted by 2017!

Like trying to appease the monstrous Audrey II in "Little Shop of Horrors," the desperate struggle to feed the ever-growing entitlement programs has already begun. The president has sliced nearly $1.5 billion from the missile defense program -- despite growing threats from rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran. Rep. Barney Frank is calling for a 25 percent reduction in military spending. Said Frank in June: "I am of course struck that so many of my colleagues who are so worried about the deficit apparently think the Pentagon is funded with Monopoly money that somehow doesn't count." Funny, I thought that's what was funding the stimulus and TARP programs!

Cutting national defense to pay for entitlements is akin to throwing good money after bad. It's like canceling an insurance policy to pay for a crack addiction. Slashing the defense budget will do nothing to improve this recession. In fact, budget cuts would simply grow the unemployment numbers and leave America vulnerable in an unsafe world.

Contact Robin Beres at (804) 649-6305 or .