In order to fulfill this mission, the Pentagon required a large number of troops, and lots of well maintained high-tech weapons systems. When the Democrats cut back funding, the Pentagon responded by cutting back on troop strength, procurement and maintenance. This gave military advocates the opportunity to complain that the Defense Department lacked the manpower and equipment to carry out its mission. Republicans capitalized on these arguments in the 1980 campaign. And once in power, the Reagan administration sharply increased military spending.
Government programs are like fat cells.
When you go on a diet, you don't kill fat cells, but merely shrink them. As soon as you stop dieting, your fat cells grow back and you rapidly become overweight again. If you could somehow remove these fat cells by liposuction, for example you are more likely to remain thin. This is what the Republican Congress needs to do. It needs to suck these fatty government programs out of our economic system.