By all means, let’s gut the national defense right after we establish new entitlement programs and expand welfare spending. Because obviously the latter two are more important than the actual constitutional duty of national defense.

WASHINGTON, Jan 3 (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expected to announce as early as Thursday about $100 billion in savings for the Pentagon and cuts to some weapons programs, sources said on Monday.

On the chopping block: The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and ground-based missile systems, plus a restructuring of the F-35 program. I’m sure there are more but that’s all the article specifically lists.

Apparently the White House has ordered the Pentagon to cut its budget by at least $90 billion because the federal government is running a budget deficit. You know, the same budget deficit Obama had no problem expanding when it came to special interest and entitlement spending.

But the agency charged with executing the constitutional duty to protect the United States? Let’s gut that. We can’t afford it, what with the massively expensive welfare programs and other extraconstitutional spending. Nothing could possibly go wrong by gutting your military in the face of rising hostile powers, right?

It’s an absolute farce. The same administration that pushes for ever-bigger government and ever-more-expensive non-defense programs is now insisting on a less expensive military, which we could completely defund and we’d still run a massive deficit.

Democrats are fine running major deficits and racking up debt when it comes to doling out pork and increasing the welfare rolls, but executing the constitutional responsibility of national defense? That has to be kept under strict scrutiny. We mustn’t spend too much on that, no sir. On that front we need to be fiscally responsible.

Increasing the welfare rolls? Bring on the debt! Protecting the United States against foreign enemies? Too expensive.