Latest news from Washington is the new military budget proposed by our president, George W. Bush. 5.7 billion dollars will be spent on improving the United States Armed Services over the course of the next few years. Our country has seen, over the past few year, a steady decline in recruitment, quality of equipment, and overall morale in the armed services. Take it easy Guilford liberals, this is not a bad thing, or at least not the worst thing George Bush could do in the first 100 days of his presidency.”While you’re serving us well, America’s not serving you well enough,” Bush said in a recent speech to the 3rd Infantry Division in Savannah, Ga. This is a good call by Bush; for too long, we in our country have taken for granted all the branches of the military. In doing so, money now needs to be spent on rebuilding the army. Yes, we do have the strongest army in the world and now it will get stronger.

For the record, I am not the biggest fan of Bush. I did not vote for him, but this is one thing he might be doing right.

The big problem I see here is not the fact that we are giving more money to our armed services. The two areas in this country where
I have no problem with our government giving money to is in our public school systems and in the military. The problem is that we give all this money, but is it being used wisely? With billions of dollars being spent every year on our armed services how can they be failing? While the budget for the armed services is being tightened, it is still in the
billions.

Concerns have arisen from the Democratic Party, specifically from Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware. Biden is concerned that by putting so much extra money in our military, it could be considered a threat by other countries that we are planning to use military force with more regularity. The Senator is referring specifically to Russia and China as possible threats.

I understand the comments made by Sen. Biden, but I do not think that it should stand in the way of better financing our armed services.
If we look at Russia, they have a hard enough time feeding the entire population of its country; it would seem illogical for them to be worried about what we are doing with our army. As far as I can tell, their army consists of about three dozen soldiers, four cases of Absolut, and three potato guns. This is not the 1950s, this is not the cold war, and because of its size and our history with it, Russia will always seem a threat, but right now, it is not one. If we look at China, though, they are a threat. Unlike Russia, they have a significant amount of working weapons, which will be used if the order is given. China has even gone so far as to issue a statement to the United States government to not build up the military anymore. In my humble opinion, by rebuilding our armed services, if the dark day comes where we get in a war with China, I want our side ready and I want us to win. Also, as a side note, if they were planning on attacking us, they might want to do it before the 5.7 billion dollar check clears. (2 business days, FYI)

Democratic Senator and former vice-presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman expresses concerns about how the money is going to be spent, which is the way to go on this issue. Like I am not a big fan of Bush, I will also not be sending Lieberman any Passover cards this year. He does have the right idea, though: make sure the money gets to the right spots and is not wastefully spent.

Bush is going to do a lot of wrong things while he is president. When that time comes, I will be the first person to call him on it. His military plan is not a bad one and I hope that we do not automatically assume that everything he does is wrong. Instead of concerning ourselves with our president, we need to concern ourselves with how our money is being spent and how our government is working. By doing that, we can make these next four years as productive as possible.