When I was growing up, Americans argued about priorities. 

Should we build another freeway or another school? Should we cut taxes or expand education? Should we spend more on scientific research or reduce the deficit? Should we invest more in our military or more in our own people? 

Economists even had a name for it: guns or butter. 

The phrase wasn’t really about guns or butter. It was about hard economic choices. Every dollar spent in one place couldn’t be spent somewhere else. Especially back when we balanced our budgets … 

Somewhere along the way, we seem to have stopped having that conversation. 

Politicians can give speeches all day long about how great America is. They can tell us we’re the strongest nation on Earth, the richest nation on Earth, the envy of the world. 

Mouthing inspiring patriotic speeches is easy. 

But at the end of the day, budgets do the real talking. 

A federal budget tells us who we really are. It reveals our priorities. It tells us what we fear, what we cherish and what we’re willing to sacrifice. It is, in the end, the most honest statement a government ever makes. 

Today, the statement our budgets make is changing. 

The Pentagon is seeking a defense budget approaching $1.5 trillion for fiscal year 2027, a 44% increase for the (newly renamed) Department of War,........

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