Idiocracy of America

After reading about Trump's proposed budget, it got me thinking about the sheer size and scale of the US military. Why do we need to spend more money on our military than the other top seven nations combined? Why do we have more military strength than the rest of the world combined? Where are we going to war, or is it more about funneling US taxpayer dollars to defense contractor to feed the Military War Complex President Eisenhower warned us about in 1961?

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.

Needless to say, Trump's budget proposes to dismantle programs that support science, the arts, humanities, and safety programs that support our most vulnerable citizens. The following infographic from the New York Times highlights these cuts.

The most disheartening aspect of all of this is just how corrupt our government is. This has been going on for the better part of the 20th and 21st centuries in the US, but now it seems the gap between the haves and the have nots is growing wider. This Princeton University study on how effective corporate lobbying is on which type of laws in the US are passed is rather sobering. Watch the six minute long video below to learn more.