Letter: Don’t ignore history’s lessons

Let us recall that Eisenhower warned us that the “military industrial complex” would destroy us financially. It nearly has.

JFK cut taxes to stimulate economic growth. It worked, but the highest rate was then 91 percent and and it was cut to 65 percent.

Nixon, reacting to the Cuyahoga River fire, created the EPA, and our air and water drastically improved.

George H.W. Bush said that cutting taxes further to achieve a balanced budget was “voodoo economics.” It was. It didn’t.

Clinton raised taxes and instituted selective spending restraints and the deficit was temporarily tamed.

George W. Bush promised that a never-ending string of surpluses warranted major tax cuts. A war ensued which was supposed to cost $50 billion to $60 billion and ended up costing nearly $4 trillion.

Obama established the (Simpson-Bowles) National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, which produced practical bi-partisan solutions that were unfortunately ignored by all.

So where is the Trump administration heading us today?

The future of warfare is less and less about manned jets and navy vessels. We already spend an amount equal to the next eight countries combined. Surely that is more than enough, especially if other NATO countries and Japan pay more.

We already know that further tax cuts will not pay for themselves, but only make the deficit larger.

The greatest threat to our lives could well be a changing climate. Why would we want to dismantle our primary apparatus for studying that? Who would put tape over the check-engine light?

This story was originally published March 28, 2017 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Letter: Don’t ignore history’s lessons."