• ScrollinMyDayAway@lemm.ee
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    2 years ago

    Trillion dollar budget for the military industrial complex? Money well spent! A single dime spent to help taxpayers? Socialism!

    • PsychedSy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The majority of the federal budget goes to welfare and entitlements. I’m on the “no standing army” side of things, but it doesn’t help to propagate incorrect information.

      Edit: this is absurd. There’s no opinion here: the comment I replied to is factually wrong. You can’t dislike facts until they’re not true.

      • Simpsonator@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I think you’re getting down voted for two reasons.

        1. OP’s comment didn’t state anything factual. It was rude to accuse him of attempting to “propagate incorrect information.”

        2. You’re lumping together two very different types of spending and it feels like you’re making a disingenuous argument. The vast majority of spending you’re talking about is Social Security/Medicare which has received near constant increases. Welfare programs on the other hand have been under attack since the 90s. I can say that Social Security, Medicare, and the FAA together make up almost half the budget but it doesn’t make a good argument for cutting the FAA.

        All that said, I do think you make a good point that there’s other programs to look at. Maybe we can cut the military budget while also looking at saving money on Medicare.

        • PsychedSy@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I didn’t call it a lie because I don’t think it’s an issue of will or intent, so I didn’t mean it to be insulting. I see where you’re coming from otherwise, but this isn’t a comment made from nowhere. This is a common talking point people try to use and I genuinely think it reinforces the trope.

          I don’t think it’s disingenuous at all. Whether it’s for a single mother or a pensioner it’s certainly not being used for useless bases or bombs.

          I don’t believe we can solve problems if we don’t understand them and our lack of understanding is disastrous when it comes to voting.

      • Alien Nathan Edward@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        you failed to engage with their actual argument, which was that military spending is absurdly high but always univocally supported by everyone in the establishment and increased with every new budget, but that it’s an uphill fight to get anything new for people who actually need help.

        • PsychedSy@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          To be fair, I engaged with that portion by pointing out I don’t actually believe in standing armies. So defense spending should be close to zero. But, yeah, everyone wants their pork and defense spending is free money to them.

          • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            You don’t believe in standing armies? I’m sorry but you’re either 5 years old or incredibly naive.

        • PsychedSy@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Look at the budget. Most of our federal spending goes back to citizens. Welfare, medicaid, medicare, social security. My point is what they said is a lie and it’s an easy lie to fact check.

          How should we expect to win arguments against military spending when the first line out of our mouths is a lie?