National Priorities
The West is entirely dependent on the United States military. Following the Second Would War, Europe and Canada decided that they would build up social welfare plans, and allow the United States to be the one superpower that defends them all. The obvious requisite in this deal is that the United States forswear socialism, in order to maintain the world’s strongest fighting forces.
In 2009, following the election of Barack Obama, Australia came to the conclusion that the United States had broken its end of the deal. Australia realized that they could no longer depend on the United States. As such, Australia greatly expanded and retooled its military. It would appear as though Canada has come to the same conclusion.
Canada, the country famous for nixing military spending in favor of socialist healthcare, is set to rearm. Under Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the Canadian military was neglected, as Canada thought that the United States would always be there to fight. As a result of this thinking, Canada cut back on all types of expensive military equipment. However, with President Obama projecting weakness around the globe, severe cutbacks in American military spending, all paired with an enormous expansion in social spending, have resulted in the creation of an apparent power vacuum. This vacuum is forcing other countries to reassess their national priorities. According to the National Post Canada is set to unveil a $16 billion dollar plan to purchase the brand new Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter. 10 years ago, Canada scrapped plans to spend $5 million of EH-101 helicopters, deriding the choppers “airborne Cadillacs.” That was an entirely different time. With the realization that the United States is on its way over the precipice, set to join the West in stagnant socialism, countries like Canada and Australia are acting preemptively, readying their own defenses. This is a decision the rest of the West is being faced with – without the backing of the United States will other countries chose to remain weak, or will the vacuum left by the destruction of American power cause socialist countries to rise from the slumber, reduce social, and rearm?
Tags: Barack Obama, Canada, Conservative Party of Canada, Liberal Party of Canada, Stephen Harper, United States
July 13th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
i’m sure you’ve already read it, but this mark steyn column is the.best.piece on american decline that i have read, ever:
http://portalofideas.blogspot.com/2010/02/seduction-of-decline-by-mark-steyn.html
(external link cause its not coming up on steyn’s own site for some reason)
July 13th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
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July 13th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
It’s interesting actually. Before Trudeau, the Liberal Party was always the pro-military party. I served for many years under several governments, and the “Progressive Conservatives” were as anti-military as the leftists are today. With changes to the culture that happened under the Trudeau government (and kept getting worse) that changed. For a while, there was a period where no party was supportive of military unfortunately. Interestingly, when Canada was in need of additional equipment in the 1970′s at one time, the government wouldn’t upgrade from the World War II grade; rather, the company Molson invested hundreds of thousands for things like tents, sleeping bags, and such. (not much in the way of beer regretfully). It was Mulroney who really brought the pro-Military mentality back to Canada. And it came from the conservatives at that time.
July 19th, 2010 at 11:25 am
Colonel, I guess Ari hasn’t seen this yet! In any case, I just wanted to firstly express that while I’ve heard similar sentiments expressed, I’ve never had the explanation attached to it, so that’s much appreciated. How sad that Molson needed to pay for what the government wouldn’t (though I suppose it explains why Canadians are so attached to their beer.)
More importantly, thank you for your service to the country. Of course, I don’t know any of the details about how long you served, where, etc. But I know that one doesn’t rise up through the ranks to where you did by being anything less than a dedicated, patriot, and we very much appreciate that.
Best,
Andrew