There is an effort underway to change America’s preeminent position as the world’s sole super power. We never really aimed for that role, but so be it. The parties who want to have a post-American power structure are both external and internal. Russia and China are both making major improvements to their military capabilities and have been flexing their new muscle. But the internal push is coming from the very top of in the person of the Commander in Chief.
He has shown that he believes our national security is a political function and now takes his national security advice from a Democrat political lawyer, seriously. His rabid campaign promises to scour the Hindu Kush with a knife in his teeth until our enemies are vanquished, disappeared when the smoke and mirrors of the campaign were put away. He has shown nothing but weakness as a force posture and our enemies act with no fear of an active response from us. The thing that this President simply fails to grasp is that nations negotiate for their own gain or out of fear of the consequences. We have taken any fear of us out of the equation and the Russians and Chinese and Iranians and Venezuelans and any number of others see the opportunity to increase their slices of the pie.
It is one thing to adopt policies that are more conciliatory and attempt to make friends with the bad actors in the world, misguided, naive but not catastrophic on its own. But there is a deeper threat to our core security. Part of the reason to have a strong military is to deter aggression; there is nothing like an aircraft carrier floating in his neighborhood to focus a tyrant’s mind. The reason we still have troops and bases in Germany, Japan, Korea and probably Iraq is that people behave better when the US military is near. Although we have been challenged on the ground by insurgent forces, no one has stood toe to toe with us and survived. In the air and at sea we are unchallenged and have been for so long that the last time a US ground troop was killed by enemy aircraft was the Korean War, and the only real damage to our Navy was terrorists ramming a boat full of explosives into an anchored ship.
The current administration is looking at our defense budget and seeing huge piles of loot that could fund the massive social democracy they are so keen on building. Some of the keystones of our military’s plan for the future have already gotten the axe including the F-22 Raptor, our air superiority fighter, the Future Combat System, which was supposed to network our weapons systems and the battlefield, and there are more in jeopardy. We now have only one fighter program that will provide all of our capabilities, the F-35 Lightning and every budget cycle there is pressure to buy fewer. If we do not remain committed, we could actually face a scenario where we do not own the skies. The Russians and Chinese both have aircraft that are pushing the envelope of our dominance. We can’t afford to gamble with something so vital to our warfighting ability.
As we look to the future, American power needs to continue its long history of spreading and maintaining freedom. The programs that enable our military to deploy against any foe anywhere are key to this and we can’t allow them to be raided by a butter not guns administration. Oh and by the way, aren’t these programs run by American companies, employing Americans at good wages not mythical shovel-ready pork? American power, American jobs and more freedom around the globe as the result. Sounds like a winning plan to me.