Defense and National Security: Defense Spending 
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Tea Partiers Should Get Serious
There is no doubt that "Tea Partiers" have impacted the political climate over the past year. But, for their impact to be more than superficial, they need to be more consistent, says Cato VP Gene Healy. Specifically, reformers need to focus on ceasing the “profoundly unconservative project of trying to socially engineer failed societies like Afghanistan into modernity,” and should adopt more ambitious healthcare goals, like Paul Ryan’s ‘Roadmap for America’s Future.’ "What this country needs is a political movement that will pressure (politicians) to change their ways,” Healy claims, adding that the Tea Partiers could do just that, "if they're serious."
America's Alliances Are Costly Relics
Cato defense scholar Justin Logan writes about the out-dated nature of U.S. alliances. While once serving to unite world powers in a common pursuit, the continued alliances now serve simply to funnel American tax dollars abroad. Nations across Europe and Asia claim a need for U.S. security forces, while those countries spend a meager 1 or 2 percent of GDP on defense budgets. Logan asserts, “In an era of record-breaking budget deficits and serious economic problems at home, the billions of dollars Uncle Sam pays each year to baby-sit Europe and East Asia ought to be coming in for scrutiny, not perpetual affirmation.”
Video: US in Afghanistan, 8th Year Anniversary
The United States has been in Afghanistan for eight years and the end of our engagement there is not in sight. In this new video, Cato foreign policy experts Ted Galen Carpenter, Malou Innocent and David Rittgers tackle myths associated with the war in Afghanistan and offer solutions to American involvement there.
Benjamin Friedman: Forum on Defense Reform
Who: Benjamin Friedman What: Moderating a Forum on Defense Reform Where: Winslow Wheeler of the Center for Defense Information Description: This forum will include writer Doug Macgregor, former US Army Col. Danielle Brian of POGO, and Tom Ricks. The forum will address the role of the Pentagon in the past, the present, and the future.