News Release
March 4, 2014
'Obama's military spending cuts equal
military spending increases,' says Libertarian Party
Libertarian Party candidates say:
·
Cut military spending immediately by at least 60%.
·
Stay out of Syria and Ukraine.
While the Libertarian Party strongly agrees with the need to downsize the
U.S. military, the Obama plan recently announced by Defense Secretary Chuck
Hagel
expands the military.
Both Democratic and Republican politicians routinely deceive taxpayers by
portraying slight reductions in the
growth of government as
"cuts."
When military spending cuts are involved, Republicans protest loudly, giving
credence to the claim that the cuts are real. Both Democrats and Republicans
use these theatrics to disguise reckless government overspending — just as they
did with the government "shutdown."
"Elementary school arithmetic instructs us that if you grow spending at
a slower rate — it still gets
higher. It's not a reduction; it's an
increase,"
said Geoffrey J. Neale, chair of the Libertarian National Committee.
President Obama and Secretary Hagel propose creation of a new $26 billion
"Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative" (read: slush fund)
while keeping the 2015 Pentagon budget at the same level as 2014. That's an
increase
of $26 billion.
They also propose wiping out what's left of the so-called
"sequester," thereby sheltering the military from automatic spending
cuts.
Democrats and Republicans already gutted a good portion of the sequester in
the December round of budget negotiations.
Now they want to both increase military spending and take away the minimal
spending controls that are still in effect — while pretending they want to cut
military spending.
The sequester cuts were agreed to in exchange for higher spending and higher
government debt passed under the deceptively-named Budget Control Act of 2011.
One more illustration that politicians' promises for spending cuts equal
spending
increases.
They propose reducing the total employment of the Army, National Guard,
Reserves, and Marine Corps by a mere 3.9 percent — while touting it as
"shrinking the Army to its smallest size in 74 years." This tiny
reduction in personnel — if it ever happens — is not backed by cuts in
spending. No cost savings. No real reduction.
They call for slowing down the
growth in pay raises and the
growth
of tax-free housing allowances for military personnel. The only slight
reduction they offer is an increase in contributions they pay for insurance
deductibles and co-pays. Overall, they propose higher government spending for
military personnel.
They propose a series of domestic base closures which, again, are not backed
by spending cuts. Any savings will not go to taxpayers but to spending in other
areas of the military.
In all likelihood, there will be little to no savings at all from base
closures as proposed by President Obama. Few, if any, bases will actually close
because congressmen and senators will lobby intensely to keep them open in
their home states. No base closure initiatives in the last 25 years have
resulted in savings greater than $1–3 billion per year, and some resulted in no
closings at all.
Given that the U.S. government spends more than $1
trillion
for military purposes every year, such savings are trivial and will be used as
an argument not to close any bases, as they were during the last round of
attempted military base closings in 2005.
It appears the administration is more interested in provoking lawmakers to
ensure bases stay open than in closing them and cutting costs — while
pretending to downsize the U.S. military.
The Libertarian Party and its candidates aim to substantially downsize the
U.S. military.
Libertarians are lining up to run for federal office in 2014 on a platform
to cut military spending immediately by at least 60 percent, close a
substantial number of overseas military bases, and bring troops home.
Specific Libertarian proposals to downsize the U.S. military include:
- Immediately withdraw all troops from Iraq and
Afghanistan and bring them home to their families.
- Stay out of Syria, Ukraine, and every other foreign conflict.
- Close unneeded U.S. military bases and outposts in more
than 130 countries around the world, and bring our troops home. First on
the list are the massive deployments in Germany, Italy, South Korea, and
Japan — countries that can fund their own military defense.
- Close at least half of the nation's 4,402 domestic
Department of Defense sites.
- Use 100 percent of operating cost savings to reduce the
federal income tax, balance the federal budget, or both.
- Sell off all foreign and domestic real estate holdings
of closed military bases and DoD sites while requiring that all
proceeds be used to pay down existing government debt. None of it
should pay for more government spending.
"Reducing and eliminating military bases in foreign countries will
remove a major source of hostility towards the United States, reduce the threat
of a terrorist attack, and reduce federal government debt by $300
billion," Neale said.
"Cutting military spending by $600 billion every year will go a long
way toward balancing the federal budget and ending the federal income
tax," he said. "This will give back $5,000 every year to each
taxpaying family in the United States; stimulate investment in small
businesses; and create millions of sustainable, private-sector jobs. Plenty of
jobs for veterans and millions of others now out of work."
Libertarian Party platform on National
Defense:
"We support the maintenance of a sufficient military to defend
the United States against aggression. The United States should both
avoid entangling alliances and abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the
world. We oppose any form of compulsory national service."
Sources:
"Hagel
Says US Military Must Shrink to Face New Era," Associated Press, Feb.
24, 2014.
"Military
mystery: How many bases does the US have, anyway?" Occasional Planet,
Jan. 24, 2011
"Base
Structure Report: Fiscal Year 2007 Baseline," Department of Defense
"Op-Ed:
How many bases does U.S. have globally and what is their cost?" Digital
Journal, Dec. 16, 2012
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Content not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
Theodora
"Tonie" Nathan, the 1972 Libertarian Party candidate for vice
president, passed away on the morning of March 20, 2014, at the age of 91.
From a February 25, 2014 
The
Libertarian Party of Ohio (LPO) is appealing the ballot
access case for Libertarian governor candidate Charlie Earl to
the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals after a judge ruled on March 19
to 
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government programs, ostensibly designed to help the poor, empower people in
need — or harm them? Do minimum wage laws make things better for them — or
worse? What impact do other government programs have on the lowest-income
Americans and their chances for progress and self-sufficiency? How should
government policy change to give people in need their best chance to get by
and thrive? Libertarians Adrian Wyllie, running for governor in Florida, and
Robert Sarvis, running for U.S. Senate in Virginia, will lay out their plans
to do right by the poor in America.