Ron Paul and Barney Frank; two guys who don’t see eye to eye on much economically, still found a way to came together and write an op-ed in the Huffington Post called “Why We Must Reduce Military Spending.” As they explain:

It is irrefutably clear to us that if we do not make substantial cuts in the projected levels of Pentagon spending, we will do substantial damage to our economy and dramatically reduce our quality of life.

This is a controversial opinion for lawmakers to hold. Defense spending is usually beyond the pail for political debate. However, as Frank and Paul point out, the Pentagon budget is estimated to be $693 billion in 2010 and the United States accounts for approximately 44% of the world’s military expenditures. This includes having over 700 military bases in 130 countries while fighting two wars that are slowly bleeding us. Is it any wonder that some people consider the United States to be an empire?

Indeed, the figures for money spent may actually be low. Robert Higgs of the Independent Institute estimates, that when including interest on the debt related to defense and every expense on the military that takes place outside of the Department of Defense (Department of Veterans Affairs, nuclear weapons, anti-terrorism programs, etc.), military expenditures were over a trillion dollars in 2007 alone!

That is simply an absurd amount of money. Curtailing that bloated budget could still leave plenty of money to fight terrorism. Paul and Frank recommend an end to the war in Iraq as well as a plan to reduce military spending by a trillion dollars over the next 10 years by eliminating “Cold War weapons” and reducing commitments abroad  (you can see their proposal here).

This is about more than just the economy. While war’s certainly do drain the economy, as Paul and Frank point out, “…the idea that as a superpower it is our duty to maintain stability by intervening in civil disorders virtually anywhere in the world often generates anger directed at us and may in the end do more harm than good.” Given all lives lost in Iraq and Afghanistan, it would do us well to listen.

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