Peace—and Prosperity—Through Strength

By Steve Conover

The 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries gave us statesmen who articulated and demonstrated the proper priorities for defense and its funding: preventing future wars requires vigilant investment in defense capabilities.

 

The debate over defense spending is teetering around a tipping point: should it be more about spending, or more about defense? The former seems to have gained the edge for now, with a preponderance of politicians on both sides spending more time talking about fiscal spending cuts, deficits, and debt than about national security goals, strategies, and threats.

But before we permanently invert our priorities, we would be wise to pause and ponder a few not-so-subtle clues left to us by our Founding Fathers and others from our past. Those clues tell us that, in spite of our fiscal situation, today’s debate should not be about how much national security we can afford; it should be about how much we need.

The list of clue-givers includes familiar names of past presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan. The clues can be found in their personal writings, in the Constitution, and in their actions as presidents.

Some clues embrace portions of today’s conservative agenda, such as achieving peace through strength. Others embrace portions of the liberal agenda, such as deficit funding for federal “investment” projects. But given today’s political climate, can conservatives relax their anti-deficit stance to achieve the peace-through-strength they want? Can liberals relax their anti-defense-spending stance to get the investment stimulus they desire? A pessimist, of course, might see this situation as little more than a precursor to continued stalemate on Capitol Hill. An optimist, however, might view it as a promising mix of ingredients for a grand compromise—an economic stalemate-breaker with something in it for both sides of the aisle.

Read more: http://www.american.com/archive/2012/march/peace-and-prosperity-through-strength