The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

I've recently written and updated a blog with regard to the U.S.'s ridiculous amount of military spending, which was estimated to be greater than the next 14 biggest spending countries combined as of 2010. Coincidentally enough, I just read an article which showcases that we as a nation spend way too much on defense. As the article cites, there is bipartisan support behind spending $436 million on the Army's Abrams tanks.  What are the reactions of senior Army officials? Basically, "Thanks, but no thanks." General Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, said the following in an interview on the matter with the Associated Press - "If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way." Sean Kennedy, director of research for the nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste, said, "When an institution as risk averse as the Defense Department says they have enough tanks, we can probably believe them." Precisely... If the ...

I'm getting a little tired of hearing the GOP's talking point about Democrats being about big government. They're the "tax and spend" liberals! I'm not saying this claim is necessarily inaccurate. Democrats do tend to like to spend, but guess what? So do Republicans. The Republicans of the past 30+ years are no longer those truly conservative, small-government Republicans. Spending increased by leaps and bounds under Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Spending increased under Bill Clinton as well, but not nearly as much as the three before-mentioned Republican presidents. The two parties just differ on how to prioritize the spending. Democrats tend to spend more time worrying about how to distribute money to social causes, like to health care, education, etc. Republicans tend to be more focused on defense-spending and cutting taxes for the wealthy. Both parties spend an extraordinary amount of money, but if anything in recent decades, the ...