Mr. Krugman, as we have come to expect, reminds us of the Fraudulence of the Fiscal Hawks in his column in NYT today. Given this morning’s Budget enaction, this is a relevant time to be reminded that Republicans only care about deficits while Democrats are in power. As Dick Cheney famously said, “Deficits don’t matter,” for once speaking the truth.
I propose a corollary tactic for Democrats while Republicans are in power: demand auditing and budget cuts for our military due to their wanton wastefulness. And do so under the guise of being concerned about deficits.
Democrats always get beat with the “unpatriotic” stick: no action or inaction on our part is going to change that fact. There are, however, actual voters out there who are concerned about deficits and debt. We have been largely ceding those voters to Republicans; letting ourselves be labeled as “tax and spend” liberals.
Dollars are dollars, and priorities are priorities. I don’t see a reason why we can’t make the play that deficits matter, that military spending is wasteful, and that it should be curtailed. Republicans don’t seem to suffer from their deficit hypocrisy, why should we expect to suffer for doing the same.
Now, before I get blasted in the comments :), I want to make one final point: a smaller military means more spending to help our citizens, protect our environment, and rein in the excesses of capitalism. It also reduces Presidential adventurism; a topic of serious concern given the occupant.