The Iraq War

When it comes to the war, one can only speculate what would have happened if Turkey had not backed out and our troops could have come down from the north. Most of the problems today come from that area north of Baghdad that were left untouched by the war as a result of Turkey’s decision.

On the other hand, our military was seriously depleted during the 1990s and one of my big disappointments with Bush, is the failure to build it back up. Over the last 50 years we have bloated the domestic side of the budget with giveaways designed to get votes, often at the expense of the defense budget. Our troops are the ones bearing much of the burden. At the same time we have increased the tax burden as a percentage of GNP to near record highs. The result has been tax cuts that get the economy going again, but before long the tax burden begins going up again.

Thus we are in a position were we need more money for defense. Yet raising taxes would almost certainly throw our shaky recovery back into recession resulting in even less money, and cutting domestic spending seem to be virtually impossible.

Democracy has always been seen as an unstable form of government, as eventually the people will vote themselves so many benefits, that the government either become fiscally unstable, or unable to respond challenges. A couple of years ago I had a discussion with someone on whether Democracy in this country was at any risk, I argue that there was a potential risk 50-70 years down the road, Whit did not think that was the case. I am beginning to wonder if I was not too optimistic in putting it off so far. The coming months and years will tell if we are at that point yet.