Just for a minute, think how much better federal legislation would be if we could convince our elected representatives to vote for what's right for the nation rather than what's politically expedient.
OK. That's enough daydreaming. That's not how politics generally works and the U.S. Senate provided yet another contemptible example late last month when they rebuffed both President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain by defeating the Arizona Republican's amendment that would have killed a proposal for $2.5 billion for 10 new C-17 cargo jets which the military doesn't want or need.
The vote to hear McCain's amendment failed 64-34. Give credit to Minnesota's two Democratic senators, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Al Franken. They voted in favor of the motion to hear McCain's amendment.
The problem of course is many senators are blinded by parochial interests when they should be thinking about what's in the best interests of the nation as a whole. This is particularly true when voting on matters affecting our military's resources. Certainly, senators or representatives have to be sensitive to their state's economic situation and how a vote might affect jobs back home, but we expect them to demonstrate a little backbone when the vote relates to our national security.
By supporting the unneeded expenditure for cargo jets the Senate, in effect, robbed money from military operations and maintenance accounts. Those funds are sorely needed to fund fuel, spare parts, training and military exercises.
Voting for wasteful military spending is as foolish as voting for wasteful social program spending and the senators who refused to look at the big picture should be held accountable at the polls.
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