Conservative Senators Become Keynsians On Defense Spending Cuts

Republican senator John McCain argues against cuts in the military budget.  His argument assumes that cuts in military spending will also affect non-military spending.  In other words, he makes a Keynesian argument against cuts in the military budget and he assumes a high multiplier for the spending cuts.  His inconsistency on the impact of government spending on economic growth is shared by many of his Republican friends.  They oppose Keynesian economics only when government spends money on programs that don't directly benefit their important constituents.  In other words Anti-Keynesian ideology is selectively employed to suit their purposes.  Ideology is a weapon that is used to affect public opinion.  It frequently has nothing to do with any belief system about which politicians like to posture.  Many are simply salesmen who assume that the public is uninformed about the policies that they advocate.