United Liberty

One of the biggest holes within mainstream Republicans’ espoused support of free markets is their perpetuation of the military industrial complex. Whole towns in this country revolve around the military, including service jobs on bases, office jobs and weapons manufacturing in addition to soldiering. That sort of collective governmental dependency makes the large cities of their Democratic counterparts look laissez-faire in comparison.

In a recent Cato podcast, Benjamin H. Friedman talked about Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ proposed defense cuts, which according to Kiplinger will be focussed on the F-22 fighter jet, C-17 transport plane, the Future Combat Systems integrated communications, stealthy destroyers, missile defense, combat search and rescue helicopters and Marine One helicopter replacements, and whether or not Gates was challenging the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about in his 1961 farewell address. Representatives of military districts, such as Georgian Senator Saxby Chambliss, are fighting the cuts. However, with defense spending actually going up next year and the cuts not taking effect until 2011, it would be premature to declare that major combat production had ended. (There was a subtle joke in that last sentence. I hope you got it.)

Nevertheless, Gates is going up against a massive monster that feeds off of the United States being in a state of perpetual warfare. He’s a great improvement over his predecessor.