“military budget”
Two things.
One, the feds shouldn’t have a lot more than the military since defending our country is basically their only job.
Two, do you know how much of that $600 billion is waste? Probably if they cut the waste and then modernized our military to the best in the world like Reagan did, it would probably be a wash.
So the balance of $200 billion - necessary for what constitutionally authorized activities of the feds? Not welfare, not social security, not socialized medical insurance in its various forms. To be constitutional, most of the cabinet, bureaucratic departments, and Administrative State regulatory agencies MUST GO. PHASE them OUT.
Should it happen? Yes. Could it happen? Yes. Will it happen. Not without a miracle. Your biggest problems are the portion of the public that’s become addicted AS PLANNED to government dependency and, of course, the near impossibility of sending home packing your hundreds of thousands of government workers, bureaucratic heads, and officials without a job.
Not a pretty picture but might as well be realistic about the problem - keeps us from false solutions and hopefully helps gain insight into how to chip away at this thing.
I hate to have to say it, but after 45 years of paying into Social Security, I am rather “addicted” to receiving the money I paid in all those years in the form of Social Security. I suspect that even a number of other FReepers might feel the same.
Regarding military waste—It is my understanding that because of the sequestor, the military and other agencies had to make across the board reductions. Thus they cannot get rid of wasteful programs, the can only reduce the amount of money that continues to be wasted. This is stupid and the GOP has the bulk of responsibility.