The Pernicious Iron Triangle

Over the past couple of days in class, we have learned about the "Iron Triangle," a political relationship between the bureaucracy, Congressional Committees, and special interest groups. The Medium article that we read in class along with Mr. Stewart's lesson conveyed that while these groups use this system to bolster U.S. defense programs, the effect that it has on the Federal budget and the national debt is staggering, to say the least. And the Iron Triangle was not created recently; the article states that this network has been involved with the military budget for about three decades. Ever since Eisenhower's presidency, interest groups have supported Congress members in exchange for favorable legislation, and the bureaucracy has relied on Congress for funding and provides a variety of "policy choices" and congressional support. And while there is an overwhelming amount of evidence showing that the Iron Triangle has resulted in billions of dollars wasted for dysfunctional aircraft carriers, ships, and even "unauthorized expenses at strip clubs," the most disturbing and ironic part of it all is that cutting these programs would produce even more debt. Another aspect that stood out to me is how inefficient these programs are. The article drew a comparison to the U.S. and China's ability to effectively build an aircraft carrier: China is able to produce about a thousand of carriers for the cost of "one Ford carrier." This reflects the American government's inability to do less with more. It's atrocious that our government puts up the facade that spending this money is solely for defense purposes when in reality what's actually being furthered is a political agenda. The resources being squandered could instead be allocated to resolve other pressing domestic issues such as homelessness, famine, and poverty. Until action is taken to counter some of these programs, the government will continue to abuse its power and misuse its budget.