Both parties are dedicated to crony capitalism, including the many contractors who profit from DOD. Eisenhower was correct about the danger the military-industrial complex poses to this Republic. I would go further and say that the corporate influence on our government is a real problem.
Federal, state, and local government expenditures amount to over 40% of the country's GDP. Government has a major impact on the winners and losers in the private sector. Such control is pernicious, especially since the political parties can extort campaign contributions using government funds.
As a veteran, I share your concern about our defense posture, but unless we do something about curtailing the welfare state, we will have more and more cuts to defense in order to fund entitlements and other government benefits. It is the age old battle of guns versus butter, and butter usually wins since it has more constituents. One just has to look at the UK and other European countries to see where we are headed in terms of defense spending. We just added another huge entitlement program, Obamacare, that will suck huge amounts of money out of the private sector and the federal budget.
As a veteran, I share your concern about our defense posture, but unless we do something about curtailing the welfare state, we will have more and more cuts to defense in order to fund entitlements and other government benefits. It is the age old battle of guns versus butter, and butter usually wins since it has more constituents. One just has to look at the UK and other European countries to see where we are headed in terms of defense spending. We just added another huge entitlement program, Obamacare, that will suck huge amounts of money out of the private sector and the federal budget. I agree with you 100%. You have been one of the few voices of reason here on FR regarding this subject.
The Sequester will still stand under this agreement, it simply is a rope thrown to the victim in the quick sand. The military is eager, at this point, for any port in the storm because it has been under attack from all sides, and both parties.
As I have posted before, even if we zeroed out all Defense spending, we are still screwed as a nation, because of Entitlements.
If this "deal" ends the worst of the Sequester for 2 years, it helps the military deal with an untenable situation. It was cut, and cut deeply, even before Sequestration. The mission of the military is a Constitutional enterprise - handing out SNAP cards and SSDI checks isn't. So I support relief from the Sequester for the military.
I see war on the horizon. First, with regards to Iran, second with regards to China. Either or both of those will be bloody and cataclysmic. Wars, as you well know, are "come as you are" these days.
The GOP were fools to even consider the original "formula" for the Sequester (DoD is ~17.5% of the budget, yet it "pays for" 50% of all Sequester cuts). Horrible policy, horrible deal.
So, full disclosure again, I am a military retiree like you and I am willing to see benefit cuts if they help us solve our fiscal woes. The problem is, they say they save a whopping $6 Billion over several years by changing the rules on military retirees, but then they turn around and starting ladling out Billions the next week for paying people not to work, ObamaCare subsidies to the Takers, Section 8 housing vouchers, utility subsidies, and all the rest.
We live in interesting times.