Every American concerned about our national security should speak out for a balanced budget. The number of senior military officers who have warned that America’s fiscal decay may cripple our ability to defend ourselves is sobering.

A former defense secretary, General Jim Mattis of the Marine Corps, said at his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on January 12, 2017, that “the greatest threat to national security is the government’s growing national debt.”

On another occasion, General Mattis said: “As President Eisenhower noted, the foundation of military strength is our economic strength. In a few short years, however, we will be paying interest on our debt, and it will be a bigger bill than what we pay today for defense.”

He added: “Much of that interest money is destined to leave America for overseas. If we refuse to reduce our debt or pay down our deficit, what is the impact on the national security for future generations, who will inherit this irresponsible debt and the taxes to service it? No nation in history has maintained its military power if it failed to keep its fiscal house in order.”

A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, was one of the first to warn of the national security impact of the debt. In June 2010, he said: “As the national debt grows, we are more beholden to creditors around the globe and have fewer resources to invest in strength at home. The national debt presents a clear threat to the United States to operate an efficient and effective response for its national defense.”

These military leaders warned about the deficit and the national debt because they understand the lessons of history. Countries with huge debts are less able to sustain military strength than countries with frugal governments, reserves of capital, and an ability to finance long, difficult wars.

Financial support from France and Holland enabled General Washington to keep the revolutionary army in the field. Washington even had to beg for resources in Philadelphia on his way to victory at Yorktown. 

Otherwise, he would not have been able to sustain the army — which finally won the war for independence after eight long years.

President Lincoln’s ability to find a variety of financing measures enabled the Union army to grow and be equipped enough to win the Civil War. 

Issuing greenbacks as currency (because there simply was not enough gold) enabled the Union to continue prosecuting the war. Lincoln understood a simple proposition: No money means no army, which means no victory. 

He was fortunate in finding pro-Union financiers willing to develop new mechanisms for funding what was by far the most expensive effort in the first 140 years of American existence.

In the French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic wars, Great Britain’s ability to fund its own military (250,000 men in the royal navy) and a series of coalitions including Prussia, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Portugal, and Spain was essential. 

Without sound financing, the British would have failed, and Napoleon would have dominated Europe without effective challenge. The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars lasted 22 years. Without the enormous financial resources — and an economy growing from the Industrial Revolution and British maritime supremacy — Britain would have lost.

American economic strength financed World War I and World War II. Further, the heart of the American Cold War strategy was outlined in National Security Council Paper 68 in April 1950. 

The paper concluded that the free world’s economic strength and technological superiority would eventually defeat the Soviet empire. The author correctly understood that a totalitarian society simply could not grow and evolve as rapidly as a free one. It took 41 years, but that grand strategy (among the most successful in history) finally led to the end of the Soviet Union.

Today, the world is increasingly dangerous. Russia continues its assault on Ukraine. Should Russia succeed, it will not stop. Israel continues a long, bloody war on Hamas and other regional foes. 

Meanwhile, a world-wide conflict could occur should Communist China decide to take Taiwan by force. Should any of these conflicts metastasize, America may not be financially prepared to contain them. 

If you care about American national security and the American military, you must be for a balanced budget and a strong economy. These make up the bedrock on which everything else can be built.

Now is the time to move to a balanced budget, quit paying trillions of dollars for interest on the debt, and rebuild our financial strength. Delaying is dangerous. Delays allow debt and interest payments to grow. Delay weakens America at home and abroad.