Vox Populi Lex Suprema Est

I’m not sure how you explain either the position of President Obama or that of his challenger, Gov. Mitt Romney, with respect to defense spending in the light of this:

Americans of all stripes have had enough of massive Pentagon budgets and want significant cuts in defense spending, according to new survey data released on Monday.

In Republican and Democratic districts across the country, 74 percent and 80 percent of respective voters said they want less defense spending, the study found.

On average, voters indicated that they wanted a budget for fiscal 2013 that would be nearly 20 percent less than current defense spending.

With $645 billion enacted for total defense spending this year, the average voter’s preferred budget for next year, an 18 percent cut, would translate into a $116 billion savings—money lawmakers trying to balance the budget could sorely use.

Both parties appear to be the captives of their most hawkish and interventionist members who, if this finding is to be believed, comprise a distinct minority of the voters.

3 comments… add one
  • steve Link

    Appearing weak on defense means you lose elections, or at least that is the commonly held view. The trivial cuts Obama has made already leave him open to criticism. Frankly, I dont have a lot of hope about getting out of this defense spending problem. Americans may say they want it cut, but we also love our wars. Oppose any war for any reason and you are an unpatriotic wimp.

    Steve

  • Drew Link

    As I have oft noted before, I try to keep to things I know about. Mr Joyner once noted that the defense budget could be cut in half. I don’t know if that’s true, and it raised my eyebrows. But given his expertise (and perhaps Bernard Finels) it’s beyond me to argue otherwise.

    I would simply note that if there is that much politically driven pork and room in the defense budget, can anyone tell me why there aren’t significant cuts available in the balance of the budget? To listen to the left, all the dopes, crooks and inefficients line up at the Pentagon, and other govt programs and employees are models of efficiency.

    That would be an operating definition of insanity.

  • Andy Link

    Steve,

    If that’s true there are a lot of people in uniform who are wimps.

    I attended a military conference recently and one of the topics was the defense budget. The DoD’s been planning for sequestration and various other cutting scenarios for a while now. We know cuts are coming whatever the politicians say.

    And, to reiterate a point I make here all the time, the opinion of the President or Mr. Romney are much less important when compared to what Congress wants.

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