Where is Our Peace Dividend?

Faced with a gargantuan federal budget deficit, the U.S. government will have to find ways to trim the budget by cutting discretionary spending. And, what discretionary spending category tops the list? The budget of the Department of Defense. The Pentagon commanded $683 Billion discretionary dollars in the 2012 budget, nearly TEN TIMES as much as any other discretionary spending category (the Dept. of Health and Human Services, including Medicare and Medicaid, was a distant second at $84 Billion).

Why, at a time when one could argue that we are not really in open war with anybody, anywhere, are we spending over $2,000 per man, woman and child in America for our nation's defense? Is this level of spending during peacetime not a form of tyranny of which our Founding Fathers warned us? And, aren't we at MUCH GREATER RISK OF WAR AND CONFLICT in the future if we maintain such a large military complex WITH NO GOOD WAY TO OCCUPY ITSELF APART FROM WAR?

I do not question the patriotism of the men and women who volunteer to serve in our Armed Forces, but I do question a paradigm that makes cycles of war and conflict a self-fulfilling prophecy while not truly advancing U.S. economic interests in any significant way.

It is my opinion that, if there ever were a time when we should reap a "peace dividend" by making major cuts to our defense budget, that TIME IS NOW.

Note: People will argue that I am wrong here, that we ARE at war, in fact the "War on Terror", which includes Operation Enduring Freedom (currently in the Phillipines, Afghanistan, Horn of Africa, Trans-Saharan Aftrica), and Operation Freedom Eagle in North-West Pakistan. However, these operatinos, which are as much CIA intelligence and drone operations as military engagements, and which are open-ended without any clear timetable or measurable objectives, do not rise what I would classify as "open war", which is defined as "any overt and demonstrative combat employing conventional forces and legitimate resources, as opposed to covert or clandestine operations."