Why Should You Care?
You’ve probably heard it repeated time and time again: “the United States has the greatest military in the world.”
Because of that fact, many of the nations in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also known as NATO, rely on our massive defense spending and assets to keep their citizens safe. With U.S. cooperation, NATO has access to approximately 3.1 million active duty military members and a catalog of the most advanced tactical equipment on the planet. But, if the U.S. ends its participation which seemed likely under former President Donald J. Trump, that number drops to 1.9 million (NATO link)
Since President Biden took office, the U.S. has pledged over $15 billion and a massive array of munitions to Ukraine, a prospective NATO nation, to help the country fight off Russia’s unjust invasion. Our anti-aircraft weapons, smart missile systems, and general resources have prevented innumerable civilian casualties and halted the destruction of the country’s vital infrastructure.
However, this increased international support still does not explain the astronomical amount of government funding for defense in our yearly budget.
Our yearly defense budget accounts for more funds than China’s, India’s, Russia’s, the U.K’s, Saudia Arabia’s, Germany’s, France’s, Japan’s, and South Korea’s combined. In fact, the 2022 FY budget allocated up to $1.77 trillion to the Department of Defense (DOD) for funding its various sub-divisions.
With that much money on the line, congress owes the American people a clear explanation of where it goes.
Though it is rarely reported, the pentagon routinely double, triple, and even quadruple counts funds as they move between accounts. This has caused them to lose track of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
With increased federal oversight, we will be able to decrease the massive amount of defense spending in the yearly fiscal budget while still being able to support our international allies from unjust occupation and fascism.
Our Stance
We believe that maintaining positive foreign relations with our NATO allies is one of our greatest assets. We call on the U.S to continue military support to all current and proposed NATO members, including Ukraine.
But, support for current military efforts does not mean that major reform to defense spending does not need to happen. Our excessive defense budget should be reduced. The funds would be better spend expanded various social programs.
What Can We Do?
- Advocate for major defense spending reform
- Increase congressional oversight into the allocation of defense funds
- Continue participation in and support for NATO
- Support Ukrainian War Efforts
- Stop Foreign Occupations & Election Interference (especially in Latin America)
- End the War on Terror
- End all Support For Authoritarian Regimes
- Increase VA funding to support our veterans