Written by Thomas Magstadt   

Now comes the news that the so-called Super Committee has failed to come to compromise on how and where to cut the budget despite the 1.2 automatic across-the-board cuts that failure is supposed to trigger. This grossly irresponsible betrayal of the public interest is alarming but, of course, not surprising. After all, Congress has amply demonstrated that a majority of its members have absolutely no interest in serving the common good. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle serve ONLY special interests with a well-entrenched presence on both K Street and Wall Street.

It's hardly surprising that Democrats in Congress are blaming Republicans and Republicans are blaming President Obama. Democrats are deeply implicated in the nation's economic woes and they have done far too little fix what's wrong with Washington, making themselves part of the problem rather than finding, or even seriously seeking, a solution. But the fact remains that Republicans in Congress have placed roadblocks in the path of any and all progressive legislation or remedial action.

Democrats have been divided, weak-kneed and halfhearted in defense of the public interest. Republicans have exploited this weakness at every turn, insisting on deep budget cuts and no tax increases, while exempting the hideously bloated defense budget. The results are plain for all to see.

Taxpayers have no reason to believe that President Obama and the Congress are serious about dealing with the deficit so long as they continue to insist that defense spending is off the table. Let’s be absolutely clear: IN THE ABSENCE OF DEEP CUTS FOR WAR AND WEAPONS, THERE CAN BE NO SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF CHRONIC FEDERAL DEFICITS THAT IS NOT DEVASTATING TO CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY, THE SICK, AND THE POOR, WITHOUT DEEP CUTS IN DEFENSE SPENDING.

According to a leading European research institute (SIPRI), the United States alone accounts for 43% of world military expenditures. The second biggest military spender, China, comes in at a mere 7 percent. Russia, our arch-rival in the Cold War, spends about half as much as China now.

In his 1961 farewell address to the nation, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the most celebrated generals in U.S. history, warned of a growing “military-industrial complex”:

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

President Eisenhower echoed something James Madison wrote way back in 1795:

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes … known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few…. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

Balancing the budget on the backs of society's most vulnerable members is just plain wrong, but, of course, that won't stop the greed-is-good Republicans in Congress. Nor will it necessarily stiffen the resolve of the Democrats.

Ironically, however, because the Super Committee has failed, the automatic cuts will force the top brass at the Pentagon to trim billions of fat from the defense budget and set priorities – that is, unless Congress lets itself off the hook it created to force itself to break the budget deadlock in the first place. The generals, of course, are accustomed to getting everything they want and being immune to criticism in Congress for cost overruns, waste and mismanagement. So what comes next?

If you're thinking it's too good to be true, you're probably right. The automatic budget cuts are not scheduled to go into effect until 2013, so it is altogether possible – indeed, probable – that Congress will find a "work-around" that exempts the Pentagon. As things stand, at least half the cuts will come from defense. The Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of next year. If both things happened, the annual deficit would be cut by half.

Unfortunately, the mess in Washington will never get better until it gets worse and a clear majority of the voters, the sinking middle class, gets so fed up that "the people" turn to radical solutions. Radical solutions seldom produce rational results.

Clausewitz famously declared that "war is a continuation of politics by other means." The middle class is too complacent for its own good or the good of the country. It's like the proverbial dinosaur that cannot be aroused until it's tail is lopped off and then it destroys everything in its path. So it is with the middle class, which resists getting involved in "politics" until it's too late to avoid a war. That's why it is almost inconceivable anything will happen to change Washington or Wall Street until everything falls apart.