by T. M. Beeker

Created on: June 29, 2010   Last Updated: June 30, 2010

The Romans granted defense contracts to foreign groups who promptly took their money and sacked Rome. While other industry should be global it is foolish to trust one not of your tribe with your defense. Three reasons provide a basis for this argument. First, history is on the side of those who provide supplies and logistics for themselves. Second, economics dictate that money should be kept in the national coffers. Third and most important all aspects of a nation's defense must be undertaken by patriots.

A common phrase in the American military is 'Remember your weapons was built by the lowest bidder.' This is a truism going back to the Revolution. Would it be smart to trust a lowest bidder that is not even of your nation? No, weapons, supplies, and services should come from a national resource to provide at least some confidence in the quality of the item. History time and again has proven this. The English longbow ruled the battlefield for years thanks to local homegrown weapons, training and supplies. How successful would Henry have been had he used French hunting bows or crossbows? Would the Revolution have been a success had we purchased weapons from elsewhere? The British Navy would have made it very difficult to provide the supplies we did not have the money to buy. Consider the Great War and the enormous problems that American troops faced when using the weapons of allied nations. One does not neglect one's own troops over that of an ally. Therefore weapons from a foreign friend were not top of the line. One of the biggest difficulties that Soviet system had was in providing quality supplies to its troops. See an East German AK-47 was an outstanding weapon while a Soviet or Czech AK was junk. The Soviet system required strict adherence to standards of manufacture yet, time and again the same weapons from different sources caused logistics nightmares. Again the greatest historic reason for national provision for defense is that one may have the very weapons they bought turned against them.

Economics is the idea of money flow throughout a nation. This becomes evermore important to a nation at war. Like it or not war is good for business but if money travels overseas to purchase supplies that is money lost from a nation's own stability. The nation experiences a typical upsurge in economic growth during times of war and a recession when peace comes. To contract with foreign firms would begin the downturn at the outset of hostilities. Debt from war is often

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>