Math is Hard. Strategery is Harder

If somebody tries to say our defense budget can be cut safely because we outspend the next X number of countries--and Y are our allies--tune them out. Simply counting defense spending divorced from context is asinine. But all too common, unfortunately.

I welcome this contribution to our defense budget debate by James Holmes. Do read it all. I couldn't really quote any small part to give you a taste of it.

I've addressed the same things over the years in different contexts. Here's a recent one.

As I note in that post to illustrate the idiocy of this thinking, if defense spending is the same as military power, why does Europe have so little military power?

Yeah, you have to be a woman to have a valid opinion on abortion, but anybody can discuss defense issues.

I'd add one important factor that few bring up: that our defense spending dominance also reduces the cost of fighting. We spend money so we don't bleed. And that capability reduces civilian casualties, too.

Good God. Idiots will be defending massive cuts in our defense spending as if it means nothing at all to our security, and other idiots will nod in agreement as if they have a clue about any of this.

And I shall silently weep that Chuck Hagel is our Secretary of Defense in these dark budgetary times.

[As an aside, when I use the term "strategery" it is to mock the idiots mostly on the left who pretend to have a clue about strategy and defense issues.]