FICTION
It is a distortion which is often repeated by critics of Dr. Paul, particularly those within his own party. While it is true that if elected, the Congressman would cut the Department of Defense budget, in his own words, he would cut “not one penny from defense”. The cuts he has proposed would come from ending the wars in the Middle East, bringing our troops home from many, if not all of the approximately 130 countries where we have a troop presence, and cutting waste within the Department.
For conservatives, it should not be difficult to understand that cutting a department’s budget does not diminish that department’s purpose. If that were the case, we would have to concede that cutting the Department of Education would in fact, as liberals argue, lower the quality of education in America. The same argument can be made for any of the fifteen Executive departments. On the contrary however, what conservatives like Congressman Paul understand is that each department is a massive bureaucracy which lobbies the government for more and more money each year. This money is doled out to bloated government workforces, lobbyists and other special interests before any of it makes its way to funding the actual purpose for which it was budgeted i.e defense, education, transportation etc.
After cutting the $200,000,000,000 from foreign wars, President Paul would return DoD spending to 2006 levels by 2013. Each subsequent year would see a marginal increase. From page 2 of Ron Paul’s “Plan to Restore America”:
In addition to saving the American people hundreds of billions of dollars which we currently do not have and only raise by borrowing, printing and/or taxing, and bringing our troops home, the Congressman believes cutting the DoD, would boost our defenses here at home:
“We need to focus on securing our own borders and coastlines instead of spending so much money overseas guarding other nations…If we’re serious about combating terrorism, port security in Galveston and Freeport must be a higher priority than nation building abroad.”
Congressman Paul’s plan has received support from Tea Party favorites such as Michele Bachmann who has said defense department cuts should be, “on the table.” Senator Rand Paul has also called for cuts to the DoD budget. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity have also endorsed the Paul budget. Most importantly, members of the military have overwhelmingly showed their support for Ron Paul. He has raised more than double the amount of campaign donations from members of the military than all the other candidates combined.
