It was his way of justifying more and more spending for the war he was waging in Vietnam. We could do that and still have plenty of money for his Great Society programs to help the poor and elderly.

That was 40 years ago.

Today we have a president who is hell bent on "staying the course" in another questionable war. We can and must afford that war, he insists. But, unlike under LBJ, we're just going to have to make do with less butter.

Doesn't say much for our country's priorities. Who would have thought that by 2006 we'd still be choosing between guns and butter and then in the end opting for guns? It doesn't seem possible. Unfortunately, it is.

Under President Bush's budget, money for the Pentagon increases by 7 percent. That will bring military spending to $439 billion or, as the Nation magazine recently pointed out, 45 percent more for the Pentagon than in Bill Clinton's last year as president.

But wait. That doesn't even include the pre-emptive war in Iraq. That's sucking yet another $70 billion next year out of Bush's budget and that's a low-ball figure that won't even come close to funding the war during the next fiscal year.

Iraq has already cost Americans $243 billion since March 2003 and we're nowhere nearer getting out of that country we decided needed to be invaded than we were back then.

Think of it this way: $243 billion could have bought health insurance for every man, woman and child who is now going without.

Madison taxpayers alone have contributed $150 million of their federal tax dollars to the war in those three years. And we're sitting here in 2006 with an $8 million hole in our school budget, which is probably going to get higher as the feds cut back on more butter so they can keep paying for the guns.

Federal education dollars under the Bush budget decline $2.1 billion. Health care, of course, takes an even bigger hit as the feds pass more of the Medicaid charges on to the states. Food assistance is being cut and there is no more money for fuel assistance for the needy even as oil prices have doubled.

This sure doesn't look like the America we once were so proud of, does it?

Dave Zweifel is editor of The Capital Times.

© 2006 The Capital Times

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