I have a great deal of respect for people who have the courage to make informed decisions based upon constantly evaluating new information, especially when those decisions are made at great political risk.

Perhaps the most courageous example in recent history is North Carolina's 3rd District Representative Walter Jones. Rep. Jones attracted national attention by leading an effort to rename French fries as "freedom fries" in the House cafeteria, as a symbolic effort to criticize France for its refusal to support our 2003 Iraq invasion.

Representative Jones' district includes Camp Lejeune, and it has one of the largest military presences in the country. It was thus noteworthy when Rep. Jones reversed his support for the Iraq war and occupation in 2005, as further study through top-secret briefings and his presence on the House Armed Services Committee led him to the conclusion that we went into war based upon false pretenses.

He has continued to speak out against our counterproductive foreign policy, and in support of our military as an instrument of national defense as opposed to nation building and indefinite policing and occupation.

It should go without saying that I strongly support Rep. Jones' co-sponsoring H. Con. Res 2478, and his vote yesterday to bring our troops  home from Afghanistan.

Curiously, our 24 year incumbent David Price has a more militaristic streak, as he voted against this common sense proposal to stop the financial bleeding that results from our unending occupations.

Open-ended occupation of Afghanistan, appropriately known as the "Graveyard of Empires", is a financial suicide pact and does nothing for our national security. Economically, it is foolish to pursue "security" on a path that leads to insolvency. It is also critical to recognize that despite our best intentions, civilian casualties resulting from our operations in Afghanistan and into Pakistan serve only to further radicalize and incite hatred -- the well-described phenomenon of "blowback."

I must note that I have nothing but the deepest respect for our armed forces who have answered the call to duty. My disagreement is with the power brokers and career politicians who send our troops into harm's way without constitutional justification, and under dangerous rules of engagement to referee internal disputes and act as policemen. The ultimate insult, as I've been informed by many friends in the service, is a Congress that provides better funding and thus better armor and supplies to military contractors than to our own troops.

Ultimately, we must count the cost of our foreign policy against the economic catastrophe we are experiencing. Anyone who believes we can "cut spending" and "balance the budget" without evaluating our overseas commitments is ill-informed at best, and disingenous at worst. The Obama administration's proposed budget is filled with 1.6 trillion reasons to bring our soldiers home.