Here’s an example of an anti-sequestration advertisement that conservative think-tanks and PACs should buy advertisement space for in newspapers and magazines as well as on buses and subway/L/suburban trains:
HELP US STOP THE SEQUESTRATION OF DEFENSE
The sequester was included in the 2011 debt ceiling deal to force a Congressional ‘Supercommittee’ to craft a bipartisan deal on deficit reduction. Because the Supercommittee failed to do its job, the sequester would now slash and punish an innocent third party – the U.S. military.
Do you want that to happen?
If sequestration goes through, the military will have to:
- Eliminate the ICBM leg of the nuclear triad completely while cutting the bomber fleet by 2/3 and cancelling the bomber replacement program
- Cancel the SSBN replacement program and cut the existing SSBN fleet, thus performing unilateral nuclear disarmament
- Cancel all but the most basic upgrades for F-15s and F-16s (which are 26 years old on average) while cutting the fighter fleet by 35%
- Cancel the F-35 program completely without replacement, thus giving up air superiority and betraying foreign program partners
- Cut the USN’s ship fleet below 230 vessels, i.e. the smallest size since 1915, and vastly inadequate (independent studies say the Navy needs 346 ships)
- Cut the size of the carrier and attack submarine fleets and the Virginia class construction rate
- Forego the deployment of any missile defense system abroad
- Cancel virtually all Army modernization programs
- Cut the Army to its smallest size since 1940
- Cut the Marines down to just 145,000 personnel
- Lay off, in total, 200,000 military personnel
- Cut personnel benefits programs to such depth that it would break faith with them (e.g. massive cuts in DOD health programs and retirement benefits), thus discouraging people from joining the military or reenlisting
These cuts will also cost 1.5 million people in the defense industry and related companies their jobs, across the country.
Defense, despite accounting for just 19% of all federal spending, will again have to bear 50% of the brunt of the cuts, after already contributing $920 bn in savings since 2009. Is that fair?
As Ronald Reagan said, the cost may be high, but the price of neglect would be infinitely higher.
Help us stop sequestration. Call your Congressman and Senators and tell them to save defense from being sequestered.
For more information, log on to http://www.heritage.org/issues/national-security-and-defense
Such ads could also be produced in a video or audio recording format and aired as ads on TV and radio.
