An Open Letter to Donald Trump
Dear President Trump,
My name is Ebenezer Ramos, and I am a regular teenager that lives in the state of California. In my English class, we have been completing a project about war and how it affects the United States. In this project, I have been learning about the effects of war from the birth of new technologies to the lives of those who served to protect our freedom. Our project asked us to consider the essential question, “Should the US intervene in international conflicts? If so, what warrants intervention?” Through this project, I have considered that the United States should invest more money into military research. I wanted to write to you specifically, because a businessman such as yourself who has made billions building your empire through smart financial decisions may be able to understand my proposal or “pitch” as they might say in the business world.
Based on my readings, I propose that the United States should invest more money into military research. It is so that with the increased investment innovators will be able to take more risks when researching newer technology that would not only benefit the military but also benefit the world as a whole. Examples from the past include the internet which started as a military project during the Cold War where scientists and researchers could communicate and discuss their findings. Now in the present day the internet is used to access information from videos to leaked classified material due to someone’s “carelessness”. But I digress. In my reading from the article “The Invention of the Internet”, I learned about the history of the internet and that “Packet switching breaks data down into blocks, or packets, before sending it to its destination. That way, each packet can take its own route from place to place. Without packet switching, the government’s computer network — now known as the ARPAnet — would have been just as vulnerable to enemy attacks as the phone system.” The first iteration of the internet called the ARPAnet was made in the event that when Soviet Russia destroys the telephone lines data could still be distributed among the officials. The internet is only one example of military technology that benefited the world. Currently the military are developing exoskeletons to support soldiers in battle while it also has the potential to make the lame walk.
While those on the left (or the right) may say that increasing the military budget may cause taxes to increase or increase the deficit, it is important to consider that the United States has spent more money on welfare which costs around one trillion dollars according to a CRS report by Jeff Sessions who is a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.
Additionally, if you increase the money that goes into researching new technology the technology that gets produced could act as a form of deterrence. Deterrence is the act of dissuading an enemy country from attacking due to one’s own military might. The strategy of deterrence was heavily employed in the Cold War through the research and use of nuclear weapons. In fact the Cold War was given its name was because it not was not fought with soldiers for fear of a nuclear strike in retaliation. The Cold War promoted space exploration in order to find new ways to gain power. Now that more countries have nuclear weapons in their arsenal, just having nuclear weapons would not be enough to deter countries from attacking. (I’m looking at you Kim Jong Un.)
According to the article “Call for Proposals:New Technologies and the Future of Deterrence” The Carnegie Corporation of New York is looking for new research projects because “[in] the past decade we have seen the development of weapons systems that could potentially upend the strategic balance […] Technological diffusion has given more countries access to these systems, and increased uncertainty about the future.” By increasing the military budget to research new technology it would not only discourage countries from attacking the United States but it would also help us in battle should a country wage war on us. People may say that increasing military spending on technology may send the wrong message and that countries may think that war is on the horizon. However, it is important to know that once war arises we will be one step ahead of our opponent in war and can dissuade any future opponents to wage wars against us. In the end the investment would make its returns in the form of better security in the country and the birth of new technology, but in order to fund this investment, we will need more money.
Instead of taking another loan from China or increasing taxes to fund this venture I ask that you divert some of the resources that go into welfare and invest it into military research. A smart businessman such as yourself can see that an extravagant amount of money is put into welfare which gives money to those who do not work. I believe that taking money from welfare will be effective in aiding military research. In my readings I see that the United States have been steadily increasing their welfare budget close to the trillions yet the percentage of people in poverty stayed around 10–15% according to Heritage.org in their article titled “The War on Poverty After 50 Years”.
This leads to money being wasted, for poverty has stayed on the same level even though the government has spent a trillion dollars and a businessman such as yourself would not like to see money being wasted. The 200–400 billion dollars that have been spent on welfare shows that it was able to achieve the same result which means that 600–800 billion dollars have been spent in excess. That excess money could be spent on improving other agencies such as military research, education, or environmental protection which could benefit everyone no matter their financial status. Thank you for reading this letter and I hope to see your response in the future Mr.President.
All the best,
Ebenezer Ramos
P.S. Would you mind teaching me a few things about business I am very interested in entrepreneurship.
