April 15 is the deadline for submitting our tax returns and hoping those taxes will be wisely spent for the common good. The purpose of government is to do collectively all the things we can’t do individually that are essential for a decent society. Taxes are the dues we pay for civilization. 

The current administration is slashing all those essential public goods and services in the name of efficiency and cutting waste and fraud. But the serious money and serious waste, fraud and inefficiency are found in the multiple departments involved with “national defense“ (Defense, Homeland Security and Energy for nuclear weapons). 

The recently passed continuing resolution to fund the government until the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2025) sets the discretionary budget at $1.6 trillion, with $893 billion for defense (an increase of $6 billion more than FY 2024) and $708 billion for non-defense (a $13 billion decrease). 

As is typical, “defense” gets 56% of discretionary budget. This figure doesn’t include other defense-related spending in the non-defense category (for example the Veterans Administration) or the mandatory budget (for example the war related interest on the national debt).

The Republicans say the continuing resolution will achieve four major objectives. 

One, “secure the border” by finishing the wall, building detention camps and hiring more immigration agents. 

Two, “bolster our military” by building more naval ships (we now have the largest in the world), a missile defense system and more nuclear weapons. 

Third, “increase American energy independence” by increasing gas and oil leases and tax breaks for big oil. 

Four, “begin the process of fiscal sanity” by “ fully paying for the investments in our border security, national security and domestic energy” by cutting everything else.

This has been the bipartisan militar-istic agenda for a long time. For eight decades our country has engaged in numerous armed conflicts, wars and endless preparation for wars. This has wasted huge amounts of resources that could have been better spent on vital human needs. Trump is just exacerbating these bad priorities.  

William Astore, a retired military officer and political commentator, has written, “A state of permanent war is considered America’s new normal. Wars are now automatically treated as multi-generational with little concern for how permawar might degrade our democracy.”

In 1795, James Madison warned us, “Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded...War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes…the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few...In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended...No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

These statements fit our current national situation like a glove. But there are many alternatives to wasting our national income and resources on unnecessary militarism. Here are a few experts, from across the political spectrum, explaining the alternatives.

“The U.S. is better off prioritizing its national interests and investing in non-military tools of statecraft. The future requires smarter defense spending, not more,“ says Christopher Preble, a foreign policy expert with the Simpson Center. “The deep polarization of American society cannot be cured by foreign war, just as climate change and infectious diseases cannot be deterred by bombs and bullets, but the United States continues to over-invest in military capabilities. This disconnect between our urgent priorities and the tools needed to attain them can only be solved by a fundamental rethink of U.S. grand strategy.”

Andrew Bacevich, Vietnam combat veteran, retired Army officer, author and historian with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. says, “There is an alternative approach far more likely to yield positive results. That alternative approach posits a reformulation of American exceptionalism based not on muscle flexing in faraway places but on modeling liberty, democracy, and humane values here at home.”

Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis (U.S. Army, Ret.) writing for the Project on Government Oversight says “But is there such a thing as too much defense spending? Is it possible that, counter-intuitively, more defense dollars could make us less safe? Yes. The fact is, that is exactly what’s happening. There are tens of billions of defense dollars being wasted every year. That’s not just bad for our checkbook. It’s bad for our military effectiveness.”

Christopher Preble, this time writing for the libertarian Cato Institute, says,“If U.S. foreign policy was less focused on trying to transform the world in America’s image by force, and more on leading by example, that would allow for a smaller and less costly – but still extremely capable – military. Allocating more attention to the other instruments of U.S. power and influence, meanwhile, would enable Americans to remain globally engaged through trade, diplomacy, and cultural exchange.”

World Beyond War (worldbeyondwar.org) has a realistic, comprehensive plan to create a safer more peaceful world based on cooperation rather than militarism. The current worldwide system of national security based on military power has failed to keep people safe from violence. 

WBW proposes three strategies for humanity to end war: 1) demilitarizing security, 2) managing conflicts without violence, 3) creating a culture of peace. 

These are the steps to dismantling the war machine and replacing it with a peace system that will provide a more assured “common security” (see “A Global Security System: An Alternative to War” at worldbeyondwar.org/alternative).

But today sensible, feasible alternatives to many national problem are being ignored. There is hardly any issue in which the Trump administration is rationally addressing the problems we face. Pick out any problem you want – taxes and government spending, poisons in our food and water, climate change, crumbling infrastructure, crippling cost of healthcare, immigration, affordable housing, numerous environmental problems, nuclear weapons, or endless war – and the warnings of experts are being ignored. 

In addition Trump has divided the country and created our nation’s worst political crisis. His dictatorial actions, disregard for legal procedures and for court rulings are creating a political and constitutional crisis. His economic actions are crashing the economy. His senseless attacks on allies and trading partners has U.S. foreign policy in tatters. Worse yet, this fool has the authority to unilaterally launch military attacks anywhere in the world including with nuclear weapons.

America is in deep trouble. It is hard to see how we can get out of this mess without much hardship and probably considerable violence. All because some extremists are preaching an anti-government ideology based on false “efficiency.”