Finally, a bit of sanity?

America speaks out: Is the United States spending too much on defense?

On 1-4 February 2007, the Gallup polling organization asked a representative sample of US citizens if they thought the United States was spending too little, too much, or just the right amount on defense and the military.1 For the first time since the mid-1990s, a plurality of Americans said that the country was spending too much. The surprising result of the survey shows current public attitudes to approximate those that prevailed in March 1993, shortly after former President Bill Clinton took office. Today, 43 percent of Americans say that the country is spending "too much" on the military, while 20 percent say "too little". In 1993, the balance of opinion was 42 percent saying "too much" and 17 percent saying "too little."

What makes this result especially surprising is that few leaders in Congress and no one in the administration today argues that the United States can or should reduce military spending. Quite the contrary: leaders of both parties seem eager to add to the Pentagon's coffers, even as public anti-war sentiment builds. And Congress is not the only institution that appears insensitive to the shift in public opinion. The Gallup survey also drew little attention from the news media. Indeed, a Lexis-Nexis database search shows almost no coverage of the poll, which was released on 02 March 2007.

It always bothered me that it is a political impossibility (or at least people seem to think it is) to say that you want to cut spending on the military. Democrats can't say it because they are worried as being seen as weak, and the republicans don't want to say it. This whole thing needs to be turned around - framed differently. Republicans need to be painted not as strong vs. weak, but as incompetent and reckless brutes - stupid rather than smart. No better time than now to start.