Biden's Billy Goat Defense
Michael Ramirez March 26, 2023
In his acceptance speech in Detroit at the 1980 Republican convention, Ronald Reagan said, “We know only too well that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong, but when they are weak. It is then that tyrants are tempted.”
Reagan advocated a policy of peace through strength. It was a reiteration of the idea that the best defense was a strong offense. Plainly stated, we could prevent wars by projecting power, ensure victory over those who threaten us, and the devastation of anyone who dared to attack us.
Jimmy Carter’s defense cuts had gutted our military and left us vulnerable.
Fast forward to 2023. The Biden budget aims to do the same thing. The $842 billion in defense spending proposed in Biden’s budget has been touted as a 3.6% increase by the administration. In reality, at the current level of 6% inflation, it is a defense cut. At a time when the U.S. military is shrinking, Russia is escalating military aggressions and threatening the global community with increasing bellicose rhetoric, and on the other side of the globe, China is threatening its neighbors and poised to attack Taiwan, it is a danger to America and the world.
The Chinese navy surpassed the U.S. naval fleet in 2020.
According to the DoD, in 2021, China’s navy had 342 ships and submarines while the U.S. navy has shrunk to just 296 ships. That’s not even the worst of it. According to the Pentagon’s annual China report, the PLA Navy is planning to grow its navy to 400 ships by the year 2025.
A war game recently conducted by the Center for Strategic International Studies on a Chinese invasion of Taiwan predicted the U.S. would run out of Long-Range Anti-Ship Missiles in the “first Few days of the war.”
And for the first time since Sputnik’s launch in 1957, both China and Russia have deployed technologically superior weapons, hypersonic missiles, before the United States.
Defense spending as a percentage of the GDP has fallen from 4.6% in 2009 to 3.56% in Biden’s latest budget proposal, as the world is becoming a far more dangerous place.
Choosing massive government expansion, increasing social programs, giveaways and entitlements, over the government’s Constitutional duty to protect Americans and defend liberty is a gamble we should not take.
In an ideal world, “beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks” would be better for mankind, but in the real world filled with real threats, it is difficult to stop a hypersonic missile with student loan forgiveness.
Reagan said, “The time is now to resolve that the basis of a firm and principled foreign policy is one that takes the world as it is and seeks to change it by leadership and example; not by harangue, harassment, or wishful thinking.”
The administration calling Biden’s defense budget an increase is only an increase in wishful thinking.
It is better for the dragon slayer to be well-armed, ready for the fight, and assured of victory than to be overwhelmed and unprepared in a world full of rabid bears and menacing dragons.
The beacon of liberty must shine bright enough to expose those who oppose it and build on a foundation of might strong enough to defeat those who would try to extinguish it.
Making the dragon so fearful of the consequences of an attack that it remains hidden until its eventual natural extinction is the best deterrence to war, and the best way to further the prospects of world peace… but you can’t do that mounted on top of a goat.
Have a great week.
-m
Related reading:
Why the Pentagon Needs a New ICBM Force —PETER HUESSY - WARRIOR SENIOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS ANALYST, SENIOR FELLOW - WARRIOR MAVEN, ATLANTIC COUNCIL, HUDSON INSTITUTE
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