Cruz: 'Dark times' call for American leadership

The Hill ^ | September 29, 2014 | Martin Matishak

[MeshugeMikey]

and in this case its stings...and aches...and throbs very painfully indeed

[lormand]

The only way that a libertopian isolationist argument looks rational, is to accuse opponents of "wanting boots in every ground" or "endless wars".

What the libertopian always neglects to mention is the enormity of unconstitutional powers taken by our government regarding every aspect of our lives while diminishing the US military to pay for these destructive social engineering projects. Instead, the libertopians instead have given us homo-marriage, kook conspiracy theories and free dope for homeless people in Denver.

Isolationism is what we have now. Ron Paul's foreign policy is the same as the Obama policy...blame America and withdraw from the world. While millions more get Obamaphones and an endless expansion of the welfare state, you focus on the US military.

Just because I am not willing to turn a blind eye to the Islamic Caliphate in order to continue the welfare state does not indicate my lack of urgency regarding our massive debts and deficits. To solve our country's debt woes, the welfare state must be destroyed. The military budget keeps shrinking, not expanding but don't let that fact keep you from wishing for more.

[lormand]

"Did Churchill have a $18,000,000,000,000 national debt hanging over his head?"

I'm guessing that when you adjust the debt that England accumulated during WWII to today's numbers, it may equal this.

Chamberlain was more of your kind of leader right?

[entropy12]

My kind of leader was Ms Thatcher. I like leaders who improve the economy.

In case you do not know history, at the start of WWII, British Empire was at it’s zenith. Britain was stealing huge amounts of money from it’s colonies. Especially the biggest colony, India.
So Britain was flush with money before WWII started. Learn history before posting nonsense.

[lormand]

"So Britain was flush with money before WWII started. Learn history before posting nonsense."

This is going to be fun

Instead of just spouting off like you know what you are talking about, you should instead do a little research before pretending that

1) you know your history
2) the guy you are arguing with is a vegetable.

"During World War II the Government was again forced to borrow heavily in order to finance war with the Axis powers. By the end of the conflict Britain's debt exceeded 200 percent of GDP, as it had done after the end of the Napoleonic Wars.[4] Once again the US provided the major source of funds, this time via low-interest loans and also through the Lend Lease Act. Even at the end of the war Britain needed American financial assistance, and in 1945 Britain took a loan for $586 million (about £145 million at 1945 exchange rates), and in addition a further $3,750 million line of credit (about £930m at 1945 exchange rates). The debt was to be paid off in 50 annual repayments commencing in 1950. Some of these loans were only paid off in the early 21st century. On 31 December 2006, Britain made a final payment of about $83m (£45.5m) and thereby discharged the last of its war loans from the US.

By the end of WW2 Britain had amassed an immense debt of £21 billion. Much of this was held in foreign hands, with around £3.4 billion being owed overseas (mainly to creditors in the United States), a sum which represented around one third of annual GDP.[8]"

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_British_national_debt

UK National Debt from the year 1900

Look at the graph, then step back and ponder how embarrassed you must be. Also notice the large debt accumulated during the great depression. Then notice the spike from the start of WWII until the end of WWII. BTW, in case your faulty history books neglect it, WWII is an abreiviation of World War 2. Also, WWII started in the Fall of 39'.

Now, let's not get distracted. Your complaint is that we spend too much on the US Military, even though WWIII has started, and not a peep out of you about the enormous layers of departments and bureaucracies that suck up our nation's revenues.

OK, I'll start...how about we eliminate the Department of Education, HUD, HHS, DHS and IRS instead of a single cut from the military. Would that be acceptable to you?

[entropy12]

Look at above chart during periods of WWI and WWII.
During both periods, Britain's debt/GDP jumped significantly.
Which obviously means war was very bad for the country.

Britain was not even attacked by Germany, yet Britain decided
to go to war and had to be rescued by United States from defeat.

With our national debt at record levels, it is foolhardy to start another war.
Let the countries which need middle-east oil (China, Japan, Europe) deal with ISIS.
Why protect Iraq borders when our own borders are porous as hell.

As for cutting expenditures, My cutting would start in:

IRS (start a simplified flat tax, eliminate all loopholes and deductions)
Dept of Education (give money to States)
EPA (too many bureaucrats & rules killing small businesses)
Dept of Commerce (morons negotiating foreign trade agreements)
HUD (privatize)
DHS (more profiling and express security cards to vetted citizens)
Military - more troops like Navy Seals to combat terrorists and less super expensive aircraft from cold war era.

[gitmo]

We are seeing what the U.S. Looks like without US Leadership.