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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSurvey: Majority of Voters Favor Defense Cuts
From the US News and World Report:
By John T. Bennett July 16, 2012
Overwhelming numbers of Americans living in both Republican-leaning and Democratic-leaning congressional districts favor slashing annual military spending, according to a new survey.
Seventy-four percent of Americans living in Republican districts say they favor cutting the Pentagon's budget, while 80 percent residing in Democratic districts answered the same.
The survey was conducted by the Stimson Center, Center for Public Integrity and Program for Public Consultation.
It found that participants hailing from districts that receive the highest levels of defense dollars "were no less willing" than respondents in districts that get the least amount of money to shrink the Pentagon's slice of the federal budget pie....
Full article:
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/dotmil/2012/07/16/survey-majority-of-voters-favor-defense-cuts
As the article states OVERWHELMING numbers of Americans both Democrat and Republican favor reducing military spending. Will the Democrats step up to the plate and take the lead on this issue which has broad bipartisan support from all corners of America? If not WHY?
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)A majority of voters also oppose austerity and want to protect social safety nets, yet both parties vote for slashing spending, and our President gives speeches praising austerity. A majority of voters would also probably oppose our administration's going to the Supreme Court to argue FOR warrantless GPS surveillance and strip searches for any arrestee....and a massive spy center to read every email we ever send. Funny how there are never any polls about these things in our corporate media, and funny how the President is never asked about them publicly.
We will not see real change until more people get their heads out of their asses and stop pretending that only one party is rolling in corporate money and pushing the corporate agenda.
This blind partisan denial that prevents a unified opposition to this crap is exactly how they get away with what they are doing.
Until Americans can say the word "collusion" without fear-peeing into our red and blue party cheering suits... Until we can stand up against corporate/neocon/police state policy no matter which party is pushing it....we will continue to be manipulated corporate slaves.
Wake the hell up, America.
This outrageous denial needs to stop.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=146626
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)all those numbers change.
A lifetime of watching this dance suggests that everyone is for cutting until it means cutting money from within their districts.
think
(11,641 posts)for spending cuts in districts that receive the most military funding as those who receive very little military money. As you say this most likely would be different if the poll asked of it would be OK to make those cuts in the poll respondent's district.
Still we are talking about more than 70% of Americans wanting the military cut and yet if one watches the MSM on the Tee Vee one would think the majority of Americans are against cutting military expenses.
byeya
(2,842 posts)the political economy of the USA and their agenda of neocolonialism supporting huge profits for the international economic elite. If the electorate puts too much pressure on
the elected frontmen for corporations who benefit, then another scare will be loosed.
It goes back to the Truman administration when Acheson articulated the fact that a scared populace is a compliant populace.
greytdemocrat
(3,299 posts)Overseas
(12,121 posts)Eliminating the corruption and fraud that privatization of military services has introduced over the past 20 years would be wonderful.
Or just spending double what our nearest competitor does would be great, rather than more than all other countries combined.