Romney rejects Ron Paul-style austerity, will increase military spending

Washington Times ^ | May 7, 2012 | Seth McLaughlin

[entropy12]

My feeling on the patriotic issue is, many go in for the benefits, but come out much more patriotic than before.

[darrellmaurina]

Well, at least Romney is right on talking about the need for national defense. We’ll see as the campaign goes on what he means by that.

[B Knotts]

The GOP establishment are all Keynesians.

[B Knotts]

Military spending is not a problem as it is mandated by the Consitution.

Huh? So, because Congress has authority to declare war, there is no limit to how much we should spend? Not sure I follow you there.

Surely, there is some reasonable limit on how much we spend on defense, allowing for national security needs. Don't think for a minute that the armed forces are exempt from the governmental tendency to waste money.

George W. Bush promised in 2000 to stop "nation building" because of Clinton's record in places like Somalia and Bosnia. As conservatives, we still believe in some limits on how far we extend our military, don't we? Even more than our money, we should be especially protective the lives of Americans in the armed forces who protect us.

Also, if we are to go to war, let us go to war, all the way, and without tying the hands of the military to actually win. That has been a problem in recent years.

[BearArms]

Romney's a big government Republican, so this doesn't surprise me. Mindlessly growing the defense budget is not conservative, btw. We don't need a massive Cold War military right now, we need a lean, surgical force that can capably handle the threat of international terrorism and Islamic radicalism.

The dollars we borrow to pay for unnecessary defense programs are just as expensive and difficult to pay back as the dollars we borrow to pay for the left's projects. And while just about everyone here honors the people who have worn the uniform, the military should never be used as a make-work program. We should spend what we need to spend on defense to protect this country, and not a penny more.