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Constance Lucy, Regent, Colorado Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution of Lakewood writes:

The lush country of Costa Rica has recently become a popular international travel destination due to its diverse rainforests and pristine beaches. Not only is its economy booming from the influx of visitors, but every citizen has health care and teenagers can look forward to a college education - both paid for by their government. How can the small country of Costa Rica, population of just over 4 million, have these civilian luxuries and every US citizen does not? Simple - they have no military. They rely on the United States for any sort of defense they might requite. And they are not alone.
This tactic is also the modus operandi for Iceland, The Marshall Islands, The Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and Panama.
Even the larger world powers such as the United Kingdom understand that without the US’s strong military assistance their national defense could be compromised.
The situation presents quite a dilemma. Why should the US government spend tax dollars gained from hard-working American’s to defend another nation and those foreign citizens have national health care and educational policies superior to the States? Yet, if they need us, what might happen if we don’t come to the call of these countries? Quite possibly, they could come under the control of less democratically minded sovereignties who might harbor and cultivate terrorism. This would not only hurt the liberties of that nation, but could also cause harm here in the heartland. Perhaps when we hear the amount of our national budget dedicates to our military, we might want to consider it money well spent to ensure peace around the globe, and Americans safe both here and abroad.

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

constance all you need to do is pony up 85% of your earnings in tax dollars to start the movement to provide all that you say they have.
so here is another question that you more than likely will not answer. with countries like this around the world, as you suggest provide everything, why do we have so many illigals and others flocking here? why would these people not go to places like costa rica?
venezuela has free health care and the mexicans are not flocking there nor to cuba or any other socialist country. why not?
are you aware that we spend more on social programs than we do the military? maybe if we take the money spent on failed social programs and use it for a different social program it would work, so lets get rid of the programs call the war on poverty and the war on drugs. they both have been around for a long time and have only cost the tax payers billions and billions of dollars and not produce any results. git rid of those and you can start another failed social program of your choice.

That's funny 7:30. I thought we had improved the economy and raised everyone's standard of living over the past 40 years. I agree that the war on drugs is a waste of taxpayers money but the war on poverty has actually helped those who wanted to get ahead.

7:30, you are 100% wrong, our country spends more on our defense, (formally known as our "war") department than all other countries combined, and the sad fact is that many military families have had to rely on food stamps , medicare and medicaid ( a few of those "social programs") to make ends meet, because 40% of every tax dollar is now going to private corporations like Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR, Raytheon ,etc, etc, etc.
Our troops are being screwed, underpaid and thrown out like so much garbage when they are maimed in the biggest swindle of the last 2 centuries, The "war-on-terra"

Bush just dosen't give a damn, as long as HE or his vise president don't have to fight, and can cash dividend checks from the aforementioned war- R -us companies.

You're defending an elitist cowardly crowd.

Actually the military budget is about 1/4 of the SS/ VA / Medicaid/medicare conglomerate of social programs.
Look it up at www.gao.gov/budget

President John F. Kennedy signed us up for the duty in his Inaugural Address
Friday, January 20, 1961

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. This much we pledge—and more"

In the same address JFK also said.

For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.

And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.

We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this Nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

In the "me generation", even the DAR must be instucted in the source of our duty.

Whose "god", Jimmy Jesus?

Grouch

Yours.

Oh! Really?

You're certainly taking a whole lot for granted there Jimmy boy. Starting with the idea that I agree with the concept that our Civil Rights come from "god".

I've stated before that the rhetoric necessary to inspire a revolution, and throw off one government in favor of a new and changed form, is far different from the framework in which our Founding Fathers couched the Preamble to the Constituion, which is the formal document detailing our rights, and providing for that government,

Besides which, JFK's "signup" by no means obligates everyone to his position, or to his way of thinking. It's maginificent speechifying, I'll grant you. But, that's what it is.

Don't mistake your imagination for everyone else's life. Just as you should not make the continuous and continuing mistake of imagining that everyone else thinks that a head full of fertilizer consitutes a sign of well cultivated thought.

Grouch,

It never occured to me that you would find Jefferson persuasive. He was a progressive and you are a reactionary.

It never occured to me that you would find JFK persuasive. He was a liberal and you are a leftist.

But then persuading you of anything is not at issue for me.

dmz,
“7:30, you are 100% wrong, our country spends more on our defense, (formally known as our "war") department than all other countries combined, and the sad fact is that many military families have had to rely on food stamps , medicare and medicaid ( a few of those "social programs") to make ends meet, because 40% of every tax dollar is now going to private corporations like Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR, Raytheon ,etc, etc, etc.”

I whole heartedly agree that it sucks that members of our military are not paid enough to keep from having to depend upon food stamps. But it isn’t anything new for them to make use of programs like Medicare when they are under a disability. That has been going on for decades. It’s not something you can blame on the war in Iraq.

The federal budget for fiscal year 2007 amounted to $572 billion for defense spending. That’s 20% of all federal spending. Where you got the figure of “40% of every tax dollar is now going to private corporations” is a mystery. I think you either plucked that out of thin air or got it off a blog for some anti-military organization. During Vietnam the defense spending was 45% of the federal budget. Near the end of WWII the military accounted for 70% of federal spending which came to 30% of our GDP.

The chart below shows military spending of countries based upon gross domestic spending, which is a much more fair comparison than simple dollars spent. I don’t know why the U.S. isn’t shown, but since we are at 4.2% GDP we fall between Greece and Chili, 18th and 19th respectively. In the 1980’s we spent over 6% of our GDP, and at the height of the Vietnam War we spent 9.5% of our GDP on defense.

1 Korea, North 22.90%

2 Jordan 20.20%

3 Eritrea 11.80%

4 Oman 11.40%

5 Saudi Arabia 10.00%

6 Israel 8.70%

7 Maldives 8.60%

8 Yemen 7.90%

9 Bahrain 7.50%

10 Armenia 6.50%

11 Burundi 6.00%

12 Brunei 5.90%

13 Kuwait 5.80%

14 Turkey 5.30%

15 Ethiopia 5.20%

16 Morocco 4.80%

17 Djibouti 4.40%

18 Greece 4.30%

19 Chile 4.00%

20 Tajikistan 3.90%

U.S. military spending increased to 3.9% GDP last year from 3.0 percent in 1999 but remained well below its Cold War peak of more than 6 percent.

Based on data for the past five years, Russia has overtaken the United States as the world's leading supplier of conventional weapons. Russia, the United States, Britain, France and Germany accounted for 81 percent of all conventional weapons deliveries in 2000-2004.

China and India were the two main recipients of conventional arms in 2004. Guess who supplied those countries with those arms. No, not the U.S. but Russia.

China has announced double-digit increases in military spending nearly every year for more than a decade.

OG Why are you asking Jimmy whose "god" when it was a quote from JFK? To assume the answer it would be the Catholic God?

Maybe more importantly we should be asking those questions of the current candidates rather than dead presidents?

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