Should the government increase or decrease military spending?

Too vague of a question.

I don’t care really

Our country is currently the most powerful country in the world, but that may not be the case for long. The increasing threat of China emerging as a superpower on the world stage, the resurgence of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of terrorism in many countries, the hostilities of North Korea and Iran, etc. all require US intervention. The last time the US refused to get involved in World affairs was back at the end of WW1. The US, UK, France, and Italy defeated the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. The US was the country that…  Read more demanded that a Leauge of Nations be established to ensure that another war would never happened, but then refused to join the League. The US then went into a period of Isolation where we refused to interact with the rest of the world. With such a lack of US involvement, a global depression, bitterness and resentment within Germany, Italy, Japan, and other countries who were "wronged" by others, lead to a rise in extremist political parties within such countries. This culminated into the events that lead up to WW2, the deadliest war in world history. After the war had ended, the US realized that it needs to get involved in the world, otherwise countries will just fall back into their national bickering. This requires us to maintain a strong armed forces to enforce polices of peace, you need to have bite to back up your bark. A powerful military isn't cheap, but that is where capitalism and innovation come in. The Soviet Union, the other world Superpower after the second world war, also spent a ton of money on their military. The difference between them and us is that the Soviet Union was a closed market economy, that couldn't both keep funding the military and keep their citizens happy with stuff like food, clothing, housing, etc., meanwhile the US was the largest economy in the world thanks to its capitalism model that allowed for individuals to create multi-billion dollar businesses that allowed for our country to grow and maintain it's armed forces. We are not in a position to decrease military spending, however we do need to get our budget deficit under control before we spend more on the military, otherwise we will go the same way that the Soviets did in the 1990s, broken up and a shell of our former glory.

Decrease, we should still maintain a powerful military, but spending is currently excessively high

Leave it the same, however, redirect it on building better equipment, rather than making the same institutionalized weaponry.

Decrease military spending by not giving our money away to non-Democratic countries

All government spending should be audited.

reduce waste fraud and abuse

I don’t really know much about this.

Increase during wartime and conflicts

Depends what they are spending it on

Fund according to need

only increase during times of war

Freeze at current level until DOD can pass an audit and curb financial malfeasance with military contractors

Funding should be reapportioned to provide more funding to military families and social services for military servicemembers

We have the strongest military in the world, but we should increase as needed. We should listen to our President.

Only increase during times when the U.S is directly attacked or in war with another country or world power.

I believe that the choosing should be based on how much was needed in the past years and to use that to stimate how much will be needed.

I think that military spending should adjust according to how likely we are to be in a war with the rest of the world.

Military R&D should be increased, while inefficient sectors of the military should be slashed. R&D from the military has historically helped the us consumer

when it comes to weapons and stuff, then i think more money isnt that necessary. but for our soldiers, they need more supplies, such as good food.

in a perfect world we would NOT need military however based on the political climate and who our adversaries are cutting military spending would be a bad idea spend only enough to keep us afloat and better to deal with authoritarian nations but don't overspend at the cost of losing a social safety net.

We need to keep our country safe, not allow U.S. machines to be left in other countries to keep costs low and provide more safety to our country. Tax payers money should go down because the military and government needs to protect their equipment instead of making tax payers pay for the government's and militarys negligence and losses

I don't think military spending should be increased or decreased it should just be buying more when they need to and buying less when they don't need

They should decrease it but its unmoral to put a man out of his job for spending reasons without giving him a way to live.

It should be more efficiently used, but the amount is ultimately a major part of the world ecosystem, and should not be tampered with until the political climate majorly changes.

I think they should allocate the funds inside the military better like giving more to actual troops or better living conditions

It should be increased when there is a threat or a war going on, but decreased when there is no reason to spend the money.

Only increase funding if the government can prove undeniably that the military is improving and doing their job.

Neither, but the money should also go towards their housing and food making sure those things are high quality because they're serving our country.

I think it's good right now but if it starts to not be enough and the amount has decreased drastically then increase it.

Neither I am fine with the current expenditure, However we need to make the usage of that money more efficient by bringing industry back to America.

They should have audits and consequences for failing audits. As well as strict punishments for any corruption. If military money is efficiently spent we should theoretically be able to develop more weapons while spending less money

Honestly I think everything should have an equal or beneficial amount of spending and weapons should not be such a huge priority.

Decrease, until our deficit is dramatically reduced, and then assess and possibly return to current spending.

Decrease, domestic issues should be the military's only job, with the draft in place for international issues.

Decrease it in offensive sectors and for anything that isn't a major threat far away. However, we should only maintain our defensive military budget and maybe increase it after reducing our national debt and deficits and if we still have major threats worldwide.

Increase but put the increase to increasing the base pay of all military members. The lowest ranks should not be paid so little for their service that they qualify for food stamps.

Decrease, by auditing the manufacturers I believe we would be able to get the same we get for less and maybe increase veteran benifits with some of the savings.

Our military budget needs to be focused on america and america primarily. we should not be giving other countries money for their military.

Decrease for overseas and offensive military spending, but defensive military spending should stay the same and be increased when the US is vulnerable to attack or is getting attacked.

I think its important that we spend on the military but it depends on what the money is going towards

It should decrease, but still remain a prominent portion of our spending. America cannot afford to be weak militarily when there are threats like China on the rise.

Whichever is required to ensure the safety and well-being of the country and not have extreme excess.

Spending should be commiserate with wartime conditions. A base budget to maintain operational readiness and technological advancement is appropriate.

I'm okay with military spending because it keeps us safe. We just need to get out of debt cause its bad.

Decrease to a more reasonable amount then we can increase it after America is outta debt to everyone

Decrease, we cant support the current military spending and fix an imbalanced economy in our current state.

No, we shouldn't even have a military. We don't need to be fighting other countries. Talk it out like adults. Get over yourselves. Stop killing and fighting others when it is 100% unnecessary.

if they just use it for our country than i say yes but i dont think we need to be spending so much on other countries

Neither, I am satisfied with the current amount we are spending, but have more transparency on where it is going

I don't love it, but I do think we need to maintain our military edge. Whether that means we need to increase or decrease I guess I'm for it.

If they increase it, it should be used for important things. If they decrease it stop using what we have on unimportant things.

Uncertain. I’d rather the US remain the world’s superpower, so I find it hard to be that without spending loads of money on it. We could definitely spend less.

It’s hard to say. If the world situation demands more military coverage than yes, but if we’ve plateaued then so should the funding.

Article 1, section 8, clause 12, of the U.S Constitution limits the power to raise and support armies for a maximum of 2 years. To be in harmony with the intent of this clause increase spending should be the result of a Congressionaly declared war only.

Decrease to what is necessary to stay at the top, reallocate the remaining to better uses for public benefit. Cut out waste, stop overpaying for defense contracts that don't have competition, etc. we need to be more wise with our money

Neither, funding should be addressed by what is the most efficient need, not just spending money on the military because that's what we've always done to put money in defense company's pockets.

Adjust it to he wiser financial stewards and encourage mental health services for people and families in the military.

All for military spending for creating the greatest military, but spend less in other countries business

The US must stay ahead militarily from the rest of the world. I don't equate this with a specific spending amount. I'm in favor of reducing waste and inefficiencies.

Decrease by reducing the amount of bases we have around the world allowing for a few strategic bases.

add what is needed to get us to the best place we can be. stop spending for protection of other countries without their paying for support. take care of the USA first.

Neither, but the DoD should be required to use part of their budget to better support Vets and active military families

They should use the military funding to fix the broken system and gun wars going on in the US first. We are not the almighty nation anymore to be spending money sending to foreign wars where we do not have a legitimate stake in it

Increase but after current infrastructure programs have been fixed, and it should be spent purly on protection here in the United States not on foreign soil.

I think it's good to have a military that is ready to go so if something does happen we're ready but, I don't think it should be a main thing to focus on.

A change in spending is needed, but transparency is the most important thing here to make those decisions.