The Six Blind Men and the Elephant: Differing Views on the U.S. Defense Budget
Thomas Spoehr
January 14, 2021
In the Indian parable of “The Blind Men and the Elephant,†six blind men come across an elephant by the side of the road. To learn about the animal, each feels the animal, unknowingly touching a different part. The man who happens to put his hand on the elephant’s side confidently announces, “Well, well! This beast, he is exactly like a wall.†The second, feeling the tusk, declares, “My brother, you are mistaken. He is more like a spear than anything else.†The third, holding the elephant’s trunk, proclaims, “Both of you are wrong. Clearly this animal is like a snake.†The remaining three men express equally divergent assessments — of the exact same animal.
Views on the necessary size of the U.S. defense budget vary similarly. National commentary bounces between the opinion that the defense budget is bloated and wasteful, and the view that Pentagon funding is inadequate. Former Secretaries of Defense James Mattis and Mark Esper both stated the defense budget must grow at a rate of between 3 to 5 percent (above inflation) through 2023 in order to execute the National Defense Strategy (although the administration’s published Future Years Defense Program does not even keep up with inflation). Meanwhile, several members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced proposals earlier this year to cut the defense budget by 10 percent. (These proposals subsequently failed.) The net difference between those two views is well over $150 billion dollars in a single year.
No wonder House Armed Services Chairman Rep. Adam Smith recently predicted, “I see a big fight coming.â€
https://warontherocks.com/2021/01/the-six-blind-men-and-the-elephant-differing-views-on-the-u-s-defense-budget/
