Boin-ney, did I say it right?

[KevinM1]

Does anyone ever ask if the United States can afford more war? Why is the Department of Defence not audited? Maybe if the United States stopped bullying other countries so much they could afford the things other Western countries can seem to afford just fine - and make the world a safer place too.

F-22 is a big waste of money but it took billions to realize that. Iraq war was never a good idea, but it took hundreds of thousands of lives for the political elites to realize that. All that money spent on the Iraq war could easily have gone to decreasing income inequality. There are many developing countries that have a more equal distribution of wealth than the United States, supposedly the richest country on the Earth.

I think that if you asked most people, they wouldn't want to fight another war.  Between the costs (both human and monetary) and our shitty recent track record, more war is really unpalatable.  Right now.  The problem is, people (for some reason) buy into the beat coming from the war drums whenever the government starts beating on them.  Plus, we're currently living in a climate where if you dare question anything to do with the military, you don't "Support the Troops™" and are thus a bad person.

Regarding military equipment, at least the F-22 is actual functional, and the idea is sound.  A multi-role platform with good-to-great performance and stealth.  It cost a ton, but it works.  

The F-35 has been a complete debacle, even more so because the entire idea behind it was to greatly reduce costs (l-o-fucking-l).  The idea, again, is sound: an air frame that is used in three branches of the military, with about ~75% of the construction and replacement parts identical across branch versions.  And the basic shape and systems based on the proven F-22, and made (supposedly) to be simpler.  Then, somehow, everything got fucked up, things didn't work, prices skyrocketed, and it's just this too-big-to-fail albatross, much like Donald Drumpf's many bankruptcies.  I mean, shit, they're having new problems with the radar software right now, which may delay certification again: http://arstechnica.com/information-techn...in-flight/

But, to address your larger point, yes, we need to stop giving the military a blank check.  We need to stop going into regions that hate us already, toppling regimes, and then doing fuckall to fix the instability (either by not going in to begin with, or having the testicular fortitude to stay for the generations necessary to see the job done).  We need to stop spying on our fellow citizens and force law enforcement at all levels to obtain warrants.  We need to demilitarize our police.  We need to enact sensible gun control.  We need to close tax loopholes so large employers like Walmart pay their fair share if they're going to pay wages low enough that make people apply for welfare.  And so much more.

To answer Drich's question, Bernie is the only one who will actually try to do those things.  His lifetime of work proves it.  Clinton panders to the left, but she's essentially a 1980's non-evangelical Republican.  Her track record belies her rhetoric.  Drumpf is just an idiot.