It doesn't sound like he need it.

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Instead of spending 4x as much as China it would just be 2x. We'll be fine unless they have more "really smart people."

But he'll have it. And you'll pay for it.
So you're saying that all you should get is preventative care? You don't think that the government/people should pay for say sexual reassignment?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

2x the money but 1/100th the soldiers? Don't like those odds. I like the fact that we're the big dick in the world military. We can't be fucked with, and the reason why we got what we have in terms of security is because we spent what we spent, if we traditionally spent half of our budget I don't think we'd be where we are.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

A war with China and we're all nuked, China will just have more dead soldiers. The question isn't if we didn't spend it, it's what if we spent it on something else. Is every dollar we spent on the military in that time more important than everything else we could have spent it on? I don't think so.

I get what you're saying but I would disagree. Our military being what it is really is what keeps us safe as we are. Having half ouf our military power wouldn't be nearly as comfortable a position to be in.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I imagine we could be just as powerful at half the cost if there was actual accounting done in the military as well as, and it pains me to sound tin-foil hatty on this, the reliance on the military industrial complex. Government defense contracts shouldn't be a license to print money for both the government and the companies.

I'd agree that there's tremendous waste in the military but I doubt we can be equally secure for half the cost.

Also i'd say that I don't think it's worth half the military budget to give Chas bono hormone treatment or some douchebag their medical marijuana for their anxiety.

Were we to limit this to emergency care, or to preventitive care, thats one thing, but then who's making the calls on what's medically required?

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Think you're a bit hung up on weed and gender therapy.

Military spending has many positive benefits for our country though. It lowers unemployment, keeps middle class jobs, and helps stimulate the economy as much of the spending must go to domestic companies. It also does improve our daily lives as many innovations from military needs eventually reach the general public.

So yeah, we could cut the military budget in half tomorrow, and it probably is too large right now in a time of relative peace but it also isn't the cost savings measure that most think it is when you factor in what the side effects of those cuts will be.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Isnt their spending kind of a mystery? I mean we dont know what the savings would be.

The spending may be a mystery in some ways but ultimately we have a pretty strong idea where the money is going, and the cuts would almost certainly not be coming from the super secret "Let's make Dick Cheney rich" fund in Washington. It would most likely be less government contracts and cuts in workers/soldiers which would have other consequences. That's why the savings wouldn't be as great as we would hope. We could cut 200k soldiers and 200k civilian personnel and "save money" but what happens to those people? They stop paying taxes, they probably start collecting unemployment, and they are thrown into a job market that is difficult.

The military is actually a very important job creator in our country especially since it is very difficult to outsource to China. That's not a reason to avoid cuts either but it's not the major savings that many think it would be.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Yes and who said anything about the government. Everyone keeps on bringing this back to government entitlements. When the constitution talks about inalienable rights, it is not considering those rights to be given. They are present simply through existence and can be neither given nor taken away.

Health care and food aren't inalienable. However, our most basic morality dictates that they are provided if at all possible. I am probably wrong in calling it basic morality, I think it is instinctual for the propagation of the human race

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Well, it's an example. There's all kinds of elective surgeries that could fall into this, I'm just going with the silliest scenario for the point. But I mean, should you be paying for someones potentially unnecessary medical care? I mean, I get giving emergency care and shit like that but I don't see paying for everyone's lasik and occupational therapy and their mental therapy to talk about how mean their parents are and things like that.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I honestly couldn't disagree more. Throught human history we have to work hard for our food, and up until the last 100 years or so if you didn't kill it or grow it you probably didn't eat it. This entitlement to food is new, both to our country and to the human race as a whole. That's why it's not basic morality in my opinion. I mean, sure it's nice but I don't think people just deserve food simply by being born like you deserve the right to pursue happiness by simply having been born.
now if you said you have the right to pursue the ability to buy food well I'd have to agree there.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

People have been growing food for others for centuries. The advent of "civilization" was from when we finally had enough food that society could have workers specialize on learning, instruction, government, invention, or any other bedrocks of society instead of spending all day worrying about what they were going to eat the next day.

There were cities with 100k people in them in 2000 BCE and 1 million people were living in Rome in 1 CE. They weren't farming and hunting for themselves.

but even the societies most restrictive of the pursuit of happiness recognize that the people have to be fed.

The truth is that this concept of pursuit of happiness is the modern concept while the providing of food to those who cannot provide it is the oldest.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

And deciding whether those can provide for themselves and choose not to? Older still?

I guess I'm a cynic. i believe that if you can get something for free if you're in need, many many people will find themselves in need that would otherwise be perfectly capable of providing for themselves.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

No.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

That's an interesting point. But I would rather have power to make my own decision to give my money (taxes) to that person I care about, and not the general population.

My problem is the definition of basic.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I hear you. If I had one iota of faith the government could implement an efficient system, my perspective may change. But as I see it, they fuck up just about everything they touch.

"No" is closing the gap.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Everyone needs food to live. But eating or having food to eat is not fundamentally a right. It's something you work to get. Just because someone is hungry doesn't mean they can walk into Taco Bell and just start stealing food.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Arm & Hammer
Colgate
Aquafresh

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GIVE us this day, our daily bread

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

We live in a society that has declared things to be rights that are not fundamentally rights.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If Jesus was giving free food to the homeless like he should be, we wouldn't even have to talk about this.

but so many want to claim that this is a Christianity based country

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 "For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: 'The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.'"

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”