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Title: Misplaced priorities plague D.C.

Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/misplaced-priorities-plague-d-c|misplaced-priorities-plague-d-c]]

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Created: 2015-10-20 10:09:33

Updated: 2019-01-04 05:18:54

Published: 2017-07-17 20:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T20:50:45.327881095


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The American Enterprise Institute released a [[http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/State-of-the-US-Military.pdf|report]] this month, detailing how budget cuts to the U.S. military are allowing China, Russia, and Iran to close the gap between their growing militaries and our shrinking one. One day prior, the Washington Free Beacon [[http://freebeacon.com/politics/two-obama-golf-outings-cost-taxpayers-nearly-2m-on-airfare-alone/|reported]] that the four golf and fundraising trips taken by President Obama this past spring cost taxpayers nearly $4.5 million on transportation.

Four million dollars is a fraction of the defense budget, but these two reports illustrate, once again, the massively misplaced priorities of our federal government. As the world grows stronger, the United States is floundering in debt, ineffective social programs, and golf trips.

As former Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn said in a [[http://www.conventionofstates.com/tom_coburn_400_billion_of_stupidity|recent interview]], there's $400 billion of "stupidity, duplication, waste, and fraud" in our current government programs. This waste is translating to budget cuts for our military, endangering the lives of troops on the ground and putting our national security at risk.

An Article V Convention of States can change this. By proposing constitutional amendments that shrink Washington’s jurisdiction, we can restore the Founders’ vision of a limited federal government with specific, enumerated powers -- like, for example, national defense. If our federal officials are less worried about social programs, perhaps they’ll be more concerned about protecting the safety and freedom of the people they serve.

[[http://www.conventionofstates.com/solution|**Click here for more information.**]]