If you converse with very many conservatives, you have probably run into this argument. While they used to be fiscally conservative, their candidates have driven our national debt to truly unbelievable levels. Conservatives are not ones for self examination; however, they are all for rationalization.
The rationalization is that it doesn't matter how many trillions of dollars we go into debt. We've got the bombs. We can just nuke the people that lent us money, and problem solved. While entirely immoral, this kind of attitude toward foreigners saturates the minds of conservatives. Intelligence and a respect for learning do not. If they did, perhaps they would go to wikipedia to see that only about 25% of our national debt is owed to foreign countries:
Worse yet, much of that 25% is held by countries that are extremely difficult to bomb. Of the 25% we owe to foreign countries, 21% is owed to Japan, a close friend of ours. 20% is owed to China, who also has bombs and can bomb us back (not to mention take out our satellites, sink our oil shipments, engage in economic warfare, etc). 11% is owed to the UK, our closest ally, who also can bomb us back. So that's more than 50% of our national debt that is owed to foreigners. It doesn't get much easier after these countries. It's not like we owe $10T to Syria.
The vast majority of our debt is owed to American entities. The federal reserve and other intragovernmental holdings account for a lot of it. Some is owed to state and local governments. Some is owed to mutual funds, bonds, and investors.
So you tell me, Joe Sixpack. Exactly who are you proposing that we bomb? Japan? China? Our NATO allies? Even if we eliminate all of our foreign debts, we've only cut our debt by 25%. Are you willing to use the bombs to go after our other lenders? How about yourself? The government owes you money for social security. Are you willing to bomb yourself so the government won't have to pay you? How about state houses? Federal buildings? Hey, I have an idea, maybe we won't even have to use our bombs. Let's just pick out a few planes and fly them into our federal reserve buildings. Problem fucking solved. Right?