#55 SteveB/Colorado:
1. My point about a bloodbath is not what I want, it’s what I believe is likely if conservatives are unsuccessful at stopping Obama. My forebears fought tyranny over many centuries, in this country, in England, and on the Continent, going back at least to the barons’ revolt against John Lackland. I can only hope I will do no less than my ancestors.
2. Many of us who are conservative were highly critical of Bush’s profligate spending.
3. Defense spending is a difficult and special case. Waste in defense spending is deplorable and we should (and I did when I was involved in procurement) do our best to eliminate it. However, providing adequate defense is lexically ordered: it comes ahead of other considerations. When you’re in combat you don’t ask whether the weapons system was the cheapest, you ask does it work and accomplish the mission. We probably have to tolerate more waste in military procurement than in other areas, because the risk of losing a war is worse than some waste in defense spending, but that doesn’t make it OK, and should mean that those whose waste is fraudulent (as opposed to just inefficient) should be prosecuted vigorously.
