Why early deterrent procurement is hard to justify

Many Dutch voters treated war with Japan as a distant possibility while domestic needs felt immediate. A fleet intended to deter that future conflict was therefore difficult to justify against spending at home. The argument for early procurement is that ships can be bought when the threat is low, before an emergency makes preparation more costly. That same lack of urgency weakens the political case for paying for them. Critics who oppose preparation in the present can later condemn leaders for failing to foresee the war. Judging procurement with hindsight conceals the opposition leaders faced when the decision had to be made.