The people's taxes of the United States of America is not being used how we want or should be used. The Federal Government of the United States estimated that they will spend approximately $3.9 trillion and the military budget will roughly be around $535 billion for 2015 (Eaglen and Morrison) which means the military spending budget is only around 13% of our total budget but it takes up 55% of our discretionary spending, with this large of an amount going to only one cause the Government should make cuts from our military to decrease its overall budget. The discretionary category of our national budget consists of spending for our military, education, medicare and health, etc. that can be altered throughout the fiscal year, this category allows for quick change to make transfers of money while not needing a large period of time (National Priorities Project).

With our military spending habits the U.S. ranks number one across the globe; in fact, we spend more than the next 13 top military spending nations overall (“America’s staggering defense budget, in charts”). This allows the U.S. government can make large cuts, which it could and should do, while also staying up to par with other militaries cutting the right amount would allow us to put money towards other issues in our nation while also having the biggest and better military.

Based off these statistics the government should decrease their overall spending because it is unnecessary, excessive and can be used differently to help the average american civilian than for an aircraft that would kill innocent lives overseas. With troops being pulled out of Afghanistan and less troops in Iraq these large sums of money aren’t necessary to be put towards the military effort in this region isn’t needed as much because with less troops the less money we need to pay for bases and to pay for food. Some may argue that with the increase threat of the terrorist group known as ISIS and several other countries that are a threat to our national security, these budgets need to either stay the same or even increase. Yes, these people are misinformed and this will not be good for our country because we’re putting money to a cause that isn’t just our war to fight and will slow our process of getting a military budget that is reasonable and just for our people. The reason we do not need to increase our budget is because we have many allies working with the U.S. to stop as many threats as possible considering that these threats our aimed at our allies as well, so the responsibility to fight these threats are diffused among the nations. These allies come from all over the globe, some major contributors to fight ISIS are Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, along with 51 other countries that are putting effort to take take down this terrorist organization (Fantz and Pearson).

The U.S. government is paying for equipment, that high ranking military officials request, through the process of unfunded of requirements, or “wish lists”, this allows for an excessive budget that covers items we may not even use . Early in Obama’s presidency he regulated this process and the “wish lists” weren’t as easily fulfilled, but now he is “losing [his] grip” and these requests are not being regulated so whatever is on those “lists” will be fulfilled (Wright, Herb, and Judson). Even though the Pentagon says these items aren’t needed, the federal government is still purchasing them and supplying them to our military branches. Some of these unnecessary purchases consist of multiple jets, high tech equipment, and things for the officers personal benefits. If Obama re-strengthens his grips on these “wish lists” and starts putting restrictions on them, then the total military spending would be decreased and our military won’t have equipment that is not needed.

One the most important reasons the U.S. needs and should decrease our military spending is to put more money and focus on our economic status. The reason we as a nation need to focus on our economy is because we are losing our power on the globe to Asian countries that are on the rise due to their growing economies. In fact,  “In a tectonic shift, by 2030, Asia will have surpassed North America and Europe combined in terms of global power...” (Burnett). Thus, if we stay on our current path of being more of a militaristic nation and putting more towards our military, then in the near future we may have a strong  military but a weak economy. So if we as a nation don’t change our focus. our nation could fall into a pit that may be really hard to get out.

Ultimately, the reason we need to cut our military spending is because it’s unecssary and our money could and should be put into more areas that better our nation. For example, when it comes to money for education, there is never enough,  so if we really care for our country and the future of it we will put more money towards our youth. With only 6% of the discretionary spending going towards education we have enough room to cut military spending, and continue our growth as a nation academically and economically along with many other areas that need funding (National Priorities Project).

The only way we as a nation can control this is by getting politicians in office that have a mindset of decreasing our military budget and put more money towards things that this country actually needs. By learning more about your candidates from potential congressmen to the president we can make this change happen, a positive change to be specific. If you take this easy step, you’ll know which box to check in that voting booth in the near and have a valid reason why. Do your research and don’t listen to those commercials, you can’t know about a candidates mindset through a sixty second or less commercial.

Works Cited

1. Zakaria, Fareed. "Why Defense Spending Should Be Cut." Washington Post. The Washington
Post, 3 Aug. 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-defense-spending-should-be-cut/2011/08/03/gIQAsRuqsI_story.html

2. "Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go." National Priorities Project. Web. 08 Dec.
2014.

https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/

3. Burnett, Bob. "Why We Should Reduce the Defense Budget." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Apr. 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-burnett/why-we-should-reduce-the-_b_3115515.html

4. "A Military Budget to Fit the Times." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Feb.
2014. Web. 22 Dec. 2014.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/26/opinion/a-military-budget-to-fit-the-times.html

5. Wright, Austin, Jeremy Herb, and Jen Judson. "Omnibus Shows Obama Losing Grip on
Pentagon Spending." POLITICO. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Jan. 2015.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/12/2015-budget-military-spending-obama-113499.html

6. Eaglen, Mackenzie, and Charles Morrison. "Congress Should See Obama's Defense Budget
and Raise It." TheHill. 12 Jan. 2015. Web. 12 Jan. 2015.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/defense/229164-congress-should-see-obamas-defense-budget-and-raise-it

7. Fantz, Ashley, and Michael Pearson. "Who's Doing What in the Coalition Battle against ISIS -
CNN.com." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/06/world/meast/isis-coalition-nations/