{"id":77,"date":"2018-12-15T01:30:02","date_gmt":"2018-12-15T01:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/15\/watch-doug-bandow-america-spent-6-trillion-on-war-on-terror\/"},"modified":"2018-12-15T01:30:02","modified_gmt":"2018-12-15T01:30:02","slug":"watch-doug-bandow-america-spent-6-trillion-on-war-on-terror","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/15\/watch-doug-bandow-america-spent-6-trillion-on-war-on-terror\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch–Doug Bandow: America Spent $6 Trillion on War on Terror"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Committee for Responsible Foreign Policy (CRFP) sponsored the following post.<\/h2>\n

Cato Institute foreign policy scholar Doug Bandow said on Wednesday that America has spent more than $5.9 trillion on the war on terror and suggested that America\u2019s foreign policy is \u201cthe ultimate\u00a0big government program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bandow spoke in Washington, DC, on Wednesday about the war\u2019s impact on the economy. The Committee for Responsible Foreign Policy, a non-partisan organization for a more restrained foreign policy, hosted the event, titled \u201cThe Impact of War on the Economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Perdie\/Breitbart News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

During the talk, Bandow said that an \u201cexpansive foreign policy will be expensive\u201d and will include an extraordinary human cost, as well.<\/p>\n

Bandow related that, since 9\/11, America has been \u201cat war for most of the last 20 years,\u201d which he described as \u201cextraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The foreign policy scholar quoted James Madison, noting how war destroys American liberty. He\u00a0said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ\u00a0of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination\u00a0of the few.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Bandow continued, suggesting that war increases the power of the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cRandolph Bourne warned us a century ago that war is the health of the state,\u201d Bandow said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been struck by conservative friends of mine that believe in limited constitutional government and to be supporting a bigger militaristic program because war is the ultimate big government program.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scholar then mentioned<\/a>\u00a0a study from Brown University\u2019s Watson Institute, which found that since 9\/11, America has spent $5.9 trillion in overseas wars.<\/p>\n

Bandow then said that some lawmakers tend to believe that America can cut its defense spending without re-examining its foreign policy, which is the opposite conclusion. He said the U.S. should re-examine if it should serve as the world\u2019s policeman.<\/p>\n

\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Perdie\/Breitbart News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe have to talk about what we want to do in the world, if we want to run the world, fix failed states, protect rich allies, and everything else, if we have to spend the money,\u201d Bandow said.<\/p>\n

The Cato expert also contended that military spending does not provide as many jobs as does direct spending on education or health care.<\/p>\n

Bandow explained that \u201chealth care, clean energy, tax cuts, a number of these creates 1.5 times as many [jobs]. Education spending is estimated to create twice as many jobs. So if you want these other things, you should spend directly for it\u2013the same thing with technological development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bandow told Breitbart News in a statement this week that endless and unnecessary wars overseas undermine America\u2019s economic future.<\/p>\n

Bandow said, \u201cAn activist, militarist policy is bad for America\u2019s security, increasing the likelihood of endless American involvement in costly but unnecessary wars, as in the Middle East today. The human consequences, thousands of wasted lives, are equally dire. Such a strategy also undermines America\u2019s economic future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elaborating, Bandow said, \u201cMoney is wasted. Budgets are bloated. Debt is accumulated. Human talent, technological development, and capital investment are all diverted away from productive civilian uses to war. Officials must never forget that it is a republic which they are protecting, one based on constitutional limits, individual liberties, and free enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bandow said that military spending \u201ccontributes to the deficit, higher interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not look at military spending as some sort of answer to economic problems,\u201d Bandow said.<\/p>\n

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The Committee for Responsible Foreign Policy is a 501(c)(4) organization with the mission of pursuing a more restrained foreign policy that adheres to the Constitution. The organization aims to increase awareness of Congress\u2019 Article I responsibility to oversee war. For more information on CRFP, please visit\u00a0http:\/\/responsibleforeignpolicy.org<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

http:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2018\/12\/14\/doug-bandow-america-spent-6-trillion-war-terror\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":78,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/surfshields.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}