(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Voting Has Consequences. So Does War. [1] ['Douglas Schonenberg', 'Greg Dworkin', 'Thom Hartmann'] Date: 2026-08-28 I read something recently that made me stop and think. And honestly, I think it is something that every voter should be thinking about. The Guardian reported that the war with Iran is putting enormous financial pressure on the U.S. Navy. So much pressure that the Navy has had to move money around from other accounts just to cover payroll and keep the war effort going. Think about what that means. The United States Navy. One of the most powerful military forces in the world is having trouble paying its sailors. The Navy has to move money from one account to another just to make sure its people get paid because the war is eating through its budget. And it isn’t just about payroll. Money is being moved away from other priorities to continue a war of choice started by the Trump administration. Maintenance is being pushed aside. And we are using weapons and ammunition that were sitting in our stockpiles for a reason. They were there because we might need them someday. Well, someday has apparently become today because Trump wanted to start a war. And replacing those weapons isn’t as simple as going to the store and ordering more. Some of these weapons take years to manufacture. So when we use them today, we aren’t just spending money today. We are using up resources that we may need tomorrow. And eventually, those resources have to be replaced. Which brings us to something else. Our national debt. We are now carrying roughly $40 trillion in national debt. Forty. Trillion. Dollars. And it keeps growing. As I wrote this, it grew. As you are reading this, it’s growing. Now we are going to have to spend billions more rebuilding the weapons stockpiles that this war is using up as well as the military bases that Iran destroyed. That money has to come from somewhere. And if we don’t have it, we borrow it. Which means adding even more to that $40 trillion. And this is where I think people do not see how this matters. We hear about the national debt and it sounds like some enormous number that exists somewhere in Washington. But it isn’t just a number. We pay for it. All of us. Republicans, Democrats and Independents. The government has to pay interest on that debt. And the more debt that we accumulate, the more money that has to go toward paying for the debt we already have instead of paying for the things we actually need. And those costs don’t exist in a vacuum. They put pressure on the entire economy. We are already seeing the cost of just about everything going up. Food. Cars. Medicine. Housing. Insurance. There are many reasons prices rise, and I’m not going to pretend that the national debt is responsible for every increase we see at the grocery store or the pharmacy. But pretending that a $40 trillion debt doesn’t affect those prices is unrealistic. And now we are adding the cost of a war to it. A war of choice. A war that the United States started. Then we are adding the cost of replacing the weapons that we are using in that war. Then we are adding the cost of maintaining a military that has to be prepared for whatever comes next. And all of it costs money. Money that we either have to find, cut from something else, or borrow. Which has made me think about something I have said before: Voting has consequences. But so does war. We tend to think about war in terms of what is happening right now. The bombs. The missiles. The ships. The soldiers. The headlines we see on cable news. But war doesn’t end when the headlines do. The ships still need to be maintained. The weapons still need to be replaced. The ammunition still needs to be manufactured. And the money still has to come from somewhere to pay for all of it. The war in Iran was not something that was planned for in the military budget. Now, six months later, the Navy is moving money around to keep up with the costs, while the administration is asking Congress for tens of billions of dollars in additional defense funding. Think about that. Money that was supposed to be used for something else is being moved to pay for a war that wasn’t part of the original budget. Maintenance gets pushed back. Other priorities get pushed aside. Weapons are being used faster than they can be replaced making us less prepared if we are attacked or war breaks out in another part of the world. And eventually, somebody has to pay the bill. And that somebody is us, the taxpayers. And that’s where this becomes more than a story about the Navy. Americans have a tendency to think of presidential elections as being about the next four years. Who do I like? Who do I trust? Who do I hate? Who do I want to win? What issue matters most to me? But maybe we need to think a little further ahead. When we vote for a president, we are giving that person an incredible amount of power. The power to send our military into war. The power to spend our tax dollars. The power to make decisions about our military readiness. The power to use resources that may take years to replace. And the power to add to a national debt that our children and grandchildren will eventually have to pay for. Those decisions don’t necessarily end when that president leaves office. That’s the part that worries me. A president can make a decision today and be out of office a few years from now when the consequences of that decision become clear. And the consequences of that decision will be there for the next president to deal with. The next military leaders may have to deal with depleted weapons stockpiles. The next generation of sailors and soldiers may have to deal with the consequences of decisions they had absolutely nothing to do with. And we, as taxpayers, may still be paying for it. For years. And maybe even longer. This isn’t an argument that we should never go to war. Sometimes war may be necessary. Sometimes there may be no other choice. But I think we should be damn sure before we make that choice. Because once you start a war, you don’t get to decide exactly what it will cost. You don’t get to decide exactly how long it will last. And you don’t get to decide what resources you will have to use to fight it. And that’s why I keep coming back to voting. We sometimes treat voting like it is about picking a team. Democrat. Republican. Red. Blue. Us. Them. But it isn’t supposed to be about picking a team. It is supposed to be about choosing the people we trust with the enormous responsibility of running this country. And maybe before we vote, we should ask ourselves something that doesn’t get asked nearly enough: What happens if this person is wrong? Not just What if I’m right about them? But what if I’m wrong? What if the decision that they make today creates a problem that we don’t see until five years from now? What if the money they spend today is money we desperately need tomorrow? What if the weapons we use today are weapons we wish we had when the next crisis comes? What if the debt we add today makes an already difficult financial situation even harder for the people who come after us? We don’t know. And that’s the point. We don’t always get to see the consequences of our choices when we make them. That’s true about war. And it’s true about voting. So the next time you are getting ready to vote, don’t just think about the person you like. Don’t just think about the party you support. Don’t just think about the person you want to keep out of office. Think about what you are actually giving that person the power to do. Think about the decisions they will make when nobody is standing next to you in the voting booth. Think about what those decisions might cost. Not just today. But five years from now. Ten years from now. Maybe even longer. Because your vote doesn’t end when you leave the voting booth. The person you elect may be gone in four years. But the consequences of what they do may still be with us for decades. Voting has consequences. So does war. Thank you for sitting under the tree with me and listening to my musings. If you enjoyed this musing, please consider subscribing to my Substack, Musings Under the Tree. I write about empathy, personal growth, Being S.A.F.E., politics from time to time, and whatever else wanders through my mind while sitting under the tree. https://musingsunderthetree.substack.com/p/welcome-to-my-tree?r=1s6ofh [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/28/800090537/community/voting-has-consequences-so-does-war/ Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/