Next Week, Democrats Can Cut the Defense Budget. Let’s See Where Their Priorities Are.

In 2007, when Democrats took control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994, the Iraq War was at its zenith. Ending the war was the top priority for progressives.

At that time, a centrist senior Democratic aide pulled me aside and told me that my lefty friends and I were being irrational. Democrats could not push to end the war in Iraq or, in fact, take any steps to roll back the ever-burgeoning Pentagon budget. Doing so would electorally weaken the party, condemning us to defeat....