The idea that America can either pay for its massive social spending or pay for its massive military is a common enough statement, but is usually more often used as an argument against endless wars and runaway Pentagon budgets. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, oddly, opened his Memorial Day speech with exactly this option.

 

Insisting that the US has “two paths forward,” Romney presented the dilemma between “the pathway to Europe,” noting how much smaller European militaries are than in the early 20th century and how that had made them less influential, “to shrink our military smaller to pay for our social needs.”