Commentary—

A Businessman Looks At Security And The Economy

By Roger Mumford

As a businessman who co-founded a small business that ultimately generated more than $2 billion in total sales, I understand that America will lose the all-important economic battles of this new century unless our political leaders start thinking more broadly about what makes America secure.

We need an educated workforce. We need Head Start and health insurance for all our children. We need a reliable infrastructure. And most importantly, we need to make energy independence the moon shot of our generation.

When you look around America, you understand just how far we have to go to prepare for the economic battles confronting this nation.

I hear President George W. Bush talking about how much he cares about the security of regular Americans, and wonder what the president is thinking. While many of our country’s wealthiest families enjoy tax cuts and look forward to the proposed elimination of estate taxes, more than nine million of America’s children lack health insurance.

Meanwhile, the president has again proposed that America spend more than $10 billion on the Star Wars missile defense system, which simply does not work, and scientists say it never will. And even if it were able to intercept missiles, Star Wars would not have prevented 9/11 and other low-tech threats (like suitcase bombs). If President Bush had his priorities straight, he’d spend the $10 billion wasted on Star Wars to provide health care for all of our nation’s children. If all of our families had health insurance, maybe America wouldn’t rank 43rd in the world in infant mortality.

But, to be fair, the Democrats aren’t exactly falling over themselves to stop such obsolete Cold War megaprograms either, even though they do nothing to help our nation combat terrorism.

What’s particularly distressing about this president, however, is that his policies consistently defy his rhetoric. Take Head Start. Mr Bush has praised the program, even though he tried to gut it two years ago — a proposal that Congress rejected.

And of course, there’s the Iraq War, the $200 billion boondoggle that the president has never assessed honestly. On the contrary, he refuses to acknowledge that the war has distracted America from the real battle against terror — a battle that can only be won employing a more collaborative foreign policy that reflects the fact that economic development, not military might, ultimately will provide greater security.

Well, Hurricane Katrina should have proved to Mr Bush just how ill-prepared we are at home to deal with a terrorist attack — let alone remind us of other decaying government agencies that are being run by inept cronies.

But there’s good news in the midst of all these depressing facts. The President’s sinking approval ratings tell me this: Voters are beginning to understand that America’s security requirements will not be achieved by ignoring social ills and charging into wars without a plan to win the peace.

America needs reinforcements on the economic front, and some of our key weapons are smart, healthy kids — and a government that doesn’t ignore basic decency at home or abroad.

(Roger Mumford is former president of the homebuilding firm of Matzel and Mumford, a K. Hovnanian Company, and sits on the board of directors of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities. The stated goal of BLSP is to ensure that in the next century and beyond America retains its position as the economic and military leader of the world.)