Pick up trucks are the new enemy of the left.

[Tahuyaman]

The idea that military spending is preventing us from restoring and improving our infrastructure is a wrong-headed position.

[Ethereal]

Actually, military spending is a small percentage of federal spending. Heck, the nondiscretionary budget (social security, Medicare, Medicaid) make up 86% of federal spending. The discretionary budget (military spending part of that) is 14%.

According to a report from Brown University, the cost of the "war on terror" was about $8 trillion. That is $8 trillion down the toilet, money that could have been spent on any number of socially beneficial things, including lower taxes for the working and middle classes. Whether this constitutes a "small" percentage of the overall federal budget isn't really the point. The point is that this was a gigantic waste of resources that contributes mightily to America's degraded infrastructure and standard of living. Moreover, depending on how you account for spending, the true cost of US militarism is probably closer to $1 trillion annually, when you include the cost of veteran services, various "national security" agencies like the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, ATF, DHS, etc., foreign aid, and interest payments on debt. And even though entitlement spending makes up the bulk of federal spending, and even though I'm opposed to those programs in principle, they at least provide a material and direct benefit to Americans. US military spending, on the other hand, is almost entirely wasteful, done in service of corrupt profiteering interests who only want to use the military as their personal plaything. Eisenhower called them the "military-industrial complex". Without this pernicious influence over America's political landscape, our country's standard of living would be MUCH higher. And I continue to be absolutely baffled as to why more Americans are not angered by this.

[The Booman]

They can ban those poncy trucks with large cab for 19 people and a really tiny bed. They're ridiculous.

[The Sage of Main Street]

Kind of like the conservative men who are afraid of black people, “brown” people, vaccines, big cities, Muslims, immigrants, gay people, trans people, and They menstruate too.

A Netrix of Dust Bunnies Posing As Thoughts


Typical shallow logic. There can be an identical reaction and an identical right to fear, but one side can deserve punishment from what it fears and the other can have the duty to put fear in its enemies and act on it.

[The Sage of Main Street]

According to a report from Brown University, the cost of the "war on terror" was about $8 trillion. That is $8 trillion down the toilet, money that could have been spent on any number of socially beneficial things, including lower taxes for the working and middle classes. Whether this constitutes a "small" percentage of the overall federal budget isn't really the point. The point is that this was a gigantic waste of resources that contributes mightily to America's degraded infrastructure and standard of living. Moreover, depending on how you account for spending, the true cost of US militarism is probably closer to $1 trillion annually, when you include the cost of veteran services, various "national security" agencies like the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, ATF, DHS, etc., foreign aid, and interest payments on debt. And even though entitlement spending makes up the bulk of federal spending, and even though I'm opposed to those programs in principle, they at least provide a material and direct benefit to Americans. US military spending, on the other hand, is almost entirely wasteful, done in service of corrupt profiteering interests who only want to use the military as their personal plaything. Eisenhower called them the "military-industrial complex". Without this pernicious influence over America's political landscape, our country's standard of living would be MUCH higher. And I continue to be absolutely baffled as to why more Americans are not angered by this.

Economical Hawks


The cheapest way would have bought us victory. Nuke Tora Bora instead of occupying Afghanistan as an outpost against Russia.

Let Saddam get strong enough to make war on Iran again. Kuwait's oil would have helped him finish that job. There also would have been a negative defense spending in selling him arms to do it. And a retroactive cut in letting him have useless parasite Kuwait's oil to further finance his Iraq-Iran War.

[Peter1469]

According to a report from Brown University, the cost of the "war on terror" was about $8 trillion. That is $8 trillion down the toilet, money that could have been spent on any number of socially beneficial things, including lower taxes for the working and middle classes. Whether this constitutes a "small" percentage of the overall federal budget isn't really the point. The point is that this was a gigantic waste of resources that contributes mightily to America's degraded infrastructure and standard of living. Moreover, depending on how you account for spending, the true cost of US militarism is probably closer to $1 trillion annually, when you include the cost of veteran services, various "national security" agencies like the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, ATF, DHS, etc., foreign aid, and interest payments on debt. And even though entitlement spending makes up the bulk of federal spending, and even though I'm opposed to those programs in principle, they at least provide a material and direct benefit to Americans. US military spending, on the other hand, is almost entirely wasteful, done in service of corrupt profiteering interests who only want to use the military as their personal plaything. Eisenhower called them the "military-industrial complex". Without this pernicious influence over America's political landscape, our country's standard of living would be MUCH higher. And I continue to be absolutely baffled as to why more Americans are not angered by this.

And the costs of our entitlement programs yet to be funded is around $250T.