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pShould we cut defense spending as part of the fiscal cliff deal?

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65 %

Yes, for sure

35 %

No, poor idea

@Dec '12 c 130 comments V 223 votes

Detailed Results Next Debate Vote Now

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223 Votes

u

May 19
DesignerLM voted

v Yes, for sure
u

May 16
Obsidion voted

v No, poor idea
Apr '13

Laity1

v Yes, for sure

No deep cuts, no major weapons programs cuts. Across-the board cuts - yes. Retain weapons superiority. Cut foreign aid to "friendly" regional support except Israel which should suffer only minor cuts. Hold veterans benefits as commensurate as other entitlements (e.g. Soc. Secuity & Medicare). Seek out and cut "old war method" tactics. Reduce Pentagon staff. Encourage new, patriotic military-industry alliances (i.e., 21st century skunkworks) with emerging defense contractors. Borrow ammunition from DHS. Promote military drone tech. Keep naval fleet building capability on life support (we may sorely need it). Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan ASAP! Not for Obama-re...

Post
Apr '13

BroomeUnder

v No, poor idea

WE SHOULD ABOLISH THE MILITARY!

Post
u

Mar '13
Joke_Insurance voted

v Yes, for sure
o

Mar '13
mcbridetd voted

v Yes, for sure
Feb '13
ZombieMedic voted

v Yes, for sure
u

Feb '13
kim95 voted

v Yes, for sure
u

Feb '13
bdizzasaurus endorsed kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure
u

Feb '13

Derry90

v Yes, for sure

Yes yes yes!! And can we close our overseas bases too? Why on earth do we need to set up a base in countries such as Ireland? Are they at war? No

Post
Jan '13
Tobiluvcows endorsed kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure
Jan '13
JohnnyBG3 voted

v Yes, for sure
Jan '13
Doctordub endorsed kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure
o

Jan '13

LikkerdySplit

v No, poor idea

cut the entitlements first, then we can talk, the debt's too damn high

Post
u

Jan '13
Sobrefluf endorsed kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure
u

Jan '13
banjojeff voted

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12
MobileAppDev endorsed kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12
ace19636 voted

v No, poor idea
Dec '12
AHutcheson voted

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12
sedriskell voted

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12
Jan_Matt voted

v No, poor idea
Dec '12
johnbyars voted

v No, poor idea
u

Dec '12

Philoktetes

v Yes, for sure

Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Post
Dec '12
antnyp15 voted

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12

Girzz1984

v No, poor idea

Countries like the PRC, Iran, Pakistan and even Russia and threats to national security. Cutting Defense spending will weaken our resolve. what needs to be done is cutting programs and contractors that abuse the system. Certain places charge the government millions of dollars for conference room renovations look it up on USAspending.gov

Post
u

Dec '12
Randolph61 endorsed cat2009

v No, poor idea
Dec '12
HankHemp voted

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12
liberalsmurf voted

v Yes, for sure
u

Dec '12
voltronsba voted

v No, poor idea
u

Dec '12

MissMary

v Yes, for sure

Absolutely! This is the largest scam, sham, pay the man ... Military Industrial COMPLEX =MIC Military Is Corrupt... and the money supplied defense contractors' is the greatest of all well-fare programs. Very small percentage of the military budget goes to the 'troops' that we claim to support.

Post
u

Dec '12

bman93

v No, poor idea

We have the strongest military in the world, why weaken it? We should get rid of military WASTE but not spending.

Post
o

Dec '12

Sabio

v Yes, for sure

we might as well, oblamey has pretty much driven our military into the ground, no one on earth has fear or respects it anymore and we pretty much cater to terrorist organizations anyway, so why not cut it all the way?!?!?

Post
Dec '12
Hold_Please endorsed Creole

v Yes, for sure
u

Dec '12
rugersp101 voted

v No, poor idea
u

Dec '12

biff

v Yes, for sure

The budget can not get balanced with only non-defense spending cuts.

Post
u

Dec '12
skwisgaar12 endorsed cat2009

v No, poor idea
Dec '12

LucyJ

v No, poor idea

Cutting defense spending would be foolish and dangerous..

Post
Dec '12
Trentonhumbert voted

v Yes, for sure
u

Dec '12
theymmy endorsed kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure
u

Dec '12
Alekissloc6 endorsed cat2009

v No, poor idea
u

Dec '12

CommonSense

v Yes, for sure

Compare our defense spending with the next countries and its clear we could stand a cut. We could also stand to cut by just reducing the amount of money we pay for military hardware instead of just giving into the defense industry's exorbitant rates.

Post
Dec '12
GeneticBlue voted

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12
tarakitten endorsed kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12
smurfette voted

v No, poor idea
u

Dec '12
MalloryGrace voted

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12
MongoAPillager endorsed cat2009

v No, poor idea
u

Dec '12
mike1018 voted

v Yes, for sure
Dec '12

justapirate

v Yes, for sure

Time to clean house- overcharges by contractors,equipment the military doesn't want and politicians do and I hope someone took Nancy Pelosi's private Air Force airline away from her.

Post
Dec '12
LGRepublican endorsed cat2009

v No, poor idea
Dec '12
wimada endorsed kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure

Apr '13

Laity1

v Yes, for sure

No deep cuts, no major weapons programs cuts. Across-the board cuts - yes. Retain weapons superiority. Cut foreign aid to "friendly" regional support except Israel which should suffer only minor cuts. Hold veterans benefits as commensurate as other entitlements (e.g. Soc. Secuity & Medicare). Seek out and cut "old war method" tactics. Reduce Pentagon staff. Encourage new, patriotic military-industry alliances (i.e., 21st century skunkworks) with emerging defense contractors. Borrow ammunition from DHS. Promote military drone tech. Keep naval fleet building capability on life support (we may sorely need it). Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan ASAP! Not for Obama-re...

Post
Apr '13

BroomeUnder

v No, poor idea

WE SHOULD ABOLISH THE MILITARY!

Post
u

Feb '13

Derry90

v Yes, for sure

Yes yes yes!! And can we close our overseas bases too? Why on earth do we need to set up a base in countries such as Ireland? Are they at war? No

Post
o

Jan '13

LikkerdySplit

v No, poor idea

cut the entitlements first, then we can talk, the debt's too damn high

Post
u

Dec '12

Philoktetes

v Yes, for sure

Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Post
Dec '12

Girzz1984

v No, poor idea

Countries like the PRC, Iran, Pakistan and even Russia and threats to national security. Cutting Defense spending will weaken our resolve. what needs to be done is cutting programs and contractors that abuse the system. Certain places charge the government millions of dollars for conference room renovations look it up on USAspending.gov

Post
u

Dec '12

MissMary

v Yes, for sure

Absolutely! This is the largest scam, sham, pay the man ... Military Industrial COMPLEX =MIC Military Is Corrupt... and the money supplied defense contractors' is the greatest of all well-fare programs. Very small percentage of the military budget goes to the 'troops' that we claim to support.

Post
u

Dec '12

bman93

v No, poor idea

We have the strongest military in the world, why weaken it? We should get rid of military WASTE but not spending.

Post
o

Dec '12

Sabio

v Yes, for sure

we might as well, oblamey has pretty much driven our military into the ground, no one on earth has fear or respects it anymore and we pretty much cater to terrorist organizations anyway, so why not cut it all the way?!?!?

Post
u

Dec '12

biff

v Yes, for sure

The budget can not get balanced with only non-defense spending cuts.

Post
Dec '12

LucyJ

v No, poor idea

Cutting defense spending would be foolish and dangerous..

Post
u

Dec '12

CommonSense

v Yes, for sure

Compare our defense spending with the next countries and its clear we could stand a cut. We could also stand to cut by just reducing the amount of money we pay for military hardware instead of just giving into the defense industry's exorbitant rates.

Post
Dec '12

justapirate

v Yes, for sure

Time to clean house- overcharges by contractors,equipment the military doesn't want and politicians do and I hope someone took Nancy Pelosi's private Air Force airline away from her.

Post
Dec '12

cr8z4amerika

v Yes, for sure

We have room for some cuts & it would help if we kept our noses out of other countries business. We need to work on ourselves.

Post
u

Dec '12

tomincali

v No, poor idea

i can think of quite a bit of wasteful spending everything on other than citizens needs to be cut as well as all aid to countries who are against us sending their people back home.

Post
u

Dec '12

beemerphill

v Yes, for sure

We should always keep enough active duty to hold our own in a two front war, AND have enough Reserve and Guard to win a two front war after a month to activate. A'stan and Iraq are giving the country and our military no return. We could easily walk away, save lives, save money, and never look back. In the future, I hope that the powers that be are more thoughtful and careful before commiting American blood and wealth to foreign military excursions.

Post
o

Dec '12

woodtick57

v Yes, for sure

everyon e of my family and friends in the military talks of the HUGE amount of waste there. they should be able to reduce by one third and still provide the same product. real world companies can do it, so can they.

Post
Dec '12

jmann88

v No, poor idea

How about cutting entitlements? How about down sizing the government?How about less vacations? Why would anyone down size the military, when half the Western Hemisphere hates us.

B1

r5 replies

Post
o

Dec '12

woodtick57

who said anything about cutting their size? they can't be more efficient with the bazillion$ they have?

Post @woodtick57
Dec '12

jmann88

@woodtick57 I didn't mean it as down sizing the number of troops. They need all the $ they can get to keep up in technology.

Post @jmann88
o

Dec '12

woodtick57

@jmann88 they can keep up with technology and even make new technology just fine like every other successfully run business has with the money the have now. insisting on this sacred cow is ridiculous and demeans the supposed training our men and women in teh military have.

Post @woodtick57
Dec '12

jmann88

@woodtick57 so what happens when you cut funding to any training program? The outcome is a lot worse and people are poorly trained.

Post @jmann88
o

Dec '12

woodtick57

@jmann88 not if the program learns to be more efficient. who says cut any particular program. training is usually very cost effective.

Post @woodtick57
u

Dec '12

stephen

v No, poor idea

dont cut off your nose despite your face. i rather quite giving countys billions of dollars.

r1 reply

Post
u

Jan '13

Center

In a weird way, giving billions to other countries is a form of Defense. If they don't act like the USA wants, they will lose their funding. This is a cheap way to influence other countries and works as a policy for most of the time. I am in agreement with you some spending sounds like a waste and many dollars are wasted but the cost of war is so much higher. we should call for it for what it really is and that is bribery

Post @Center
u

Dec '12

sylehrman

v Yes, for sure

This so called defense spending contributes nothing to the nation. It only wastes money on seemingly endless wars which the American military seems incapable of winning. They can't win, so why pay them to fight. Fire them and we'll get on with life.

r2 replies

Post
Dec '12
Post Removed by Moderators
u

Dec '12

sylehrman

@kathyparsell They may act individually with great courage but they are led by, so it seems, idiots. The simple fact is that they lost wars in Vietnam, Iraq, apparently Afghanistan, and elsewhere while winning against Grenada, a small island in the Caribbean. Isn't the fault of the soldiers, it's the fault of their leaders. Still, it does nothing for the good of the nation so save your money.

Post @sylehrman
Dec '12

kathyparsell

Okay forgive my over-reaction, sore subject if you read my original post! We can't throw the baby out with bathwater, BUT the bathwater needs to go!

Post @kathyparsell
R Load more comments...

Dec '12

kirbstomp1

v Yes, for sure

When we spend equal to the next seven countries combined, we clearly are over our heads with defense spending. And the majority of the time its not 'defense' spending like they say. Its offense spending.

B3

r2 replies

e33 endorsed

Post
Dec '12

cat2009

v No, poor idea

Let's see now we have China and Iran and North Korea and the Middle east who do not have the U.S on their christmas card list all with nuclear capabilities and we are talking about cutting back on our military seems to me that we have an insider working within the system. Now is not the time to turn the other cheek no matter how much it hurts the Presidents idea on spending cuts.

B2

r6 replies

e16 endorsed

Post
Dec '12

jessejaymes

v Yes, for sure

Despite what the right wing cowboys would have you believe we spent 10 times more on Military than China. We also spend more on the Military than the next 9 nations combined spend. We have 30,000 Abrams tanks that were "refurbished" at a cost of 25 million per tank sitting idle in storage. That's not counting what are active around the world. And the Pentagon told congress they don't want to refurbish the remaining 5,000 or so that have not been done so, saying they are not needed and do not want to spend that money. The GOP house has stated that they will refurbish those tanks. And I'm sure they will. But WHY? Our Military contractor system is the most bloated in the ...

B1

e9 endorsed

Post
Dec '12

Fishbone345

v Yes, for sure

If any of that outrageous budget were going to our soldiers, I might have answered differently. It's not, it's going to contractors that are corrupt, greedy and self serving. Anyone that votes no supports them.

B4

e2 endorsed

Post
Dec '12

Thunderchicken

v Yes, for sure

We should cut all spending that isn't necessary for the country to function. We should strive for the smallest federal government that we can.

B2

e3 endorsed

Post
Dec '12

Concerned_Cit

v Yes, for sure

Cut EVERYTHING! Government wastes so much money and pockets so much of it as "expenses, etc" that they need to learn to operate on a tight budget just like most people do!

B4

r2 replies

Post
u

Dec '12

commonsense51

v Yes, for sure

We should cut EVERY Government program out there. We are in a debt crisis lest you have lived on another planet the past decade. Get rid of Big Bird and every other stupid Government subside. If a company can not support itself, it should go out of business. Get every person who has been living on unemployment benefits for Obama's entire term, OFF THE DOLE! People will take a free ride as long as you are stupid enough to give it to them. They will work under the table and keep stealing from tax payers as long as they can. Get the dead beats off welfare. Make them stand in a food bank line if they refuse to work. I could go on but you get the drift. Democrats, your bl...

B3

r1 reply

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o

Dec '12

Sharpshooter

v No, poor idea

Sure.. let's cut it to the bone.... we don't need a military. We should fire at least 60% of the Active Duty Military to fill all those vacant jobs in the private sector. I mean, there's only about 8% of the people out of work.... Plenty of jobs for tank repair men. And we don't need a military.... Obama single handedly hunted down and killed Bin Laden... he's Superman. Terrorism doesn't exist and the bad guys can't march across the ocean so we're perfectly safe. Our reputation alone will keep us safe; if that doesn't work, we can threaten to send the Wicked Witch of the West (Nancy Pelosi) and her corps of winged monkeys or just post photos of Sandra Fluke with the ...

B1

r3 replies

e2 endorsed

Post
Dec '12

MRMacrum

v Yes, for sure

Defense is an over ripe plum just asking to be the first one on the cutting block. But instead of just cutting, maybe look to increasing efficiency and competition among all the contractors, not just the big ticket glamor programs.

B3

r2 replies

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u

Dec '12

DAR

v Yes, for sure

Legions of lobbyists for the military-industrial complex represent a bigger threat to our nation than terrorists. The flood of unnecessary and expensive projects such as the F-35 can only be curtailed by removing funding. "Great powers fall by bankrupting themselves" and it is the military-industrial complex that is sinking America.

B3

r1 reply

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