[thebradbain]

The active duty military vote is not actually a solid republican voting block, contrary to popular belief: in 2020, they swung +8 for Biden [1]. It’s the veterans who are solidly (2/3) conservative, currently, but even that’s lessening [2].

Unfortunately I don’t think a majority of either party wants to reign in military spending, considering every admin including Obama and Biden has increased it since Carter, even though likely granting such a blank check is financially irresponsible (i.e. trillions unaccounted for in budget audits [3]). Both parties just want to please that bloc of votes, because it also has ripple effects on the rest of the nation’s votes to be seen as “good on military”.

I personally think our military could be just as effective if we tightened the wallet, but I don’t think either party actually wants to.

[1] https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/10/14/military-... and https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna1245542

[2] https://news.gallup.com/poll/118684/military-veterans-ages-t... (2009, but the trend has only gotten deeper)

[3] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pentagon-fails-audit-sixth-...

[PaulDavisThe1st]

Just to be clear, I wasn't for a moment suggesting that the military itself is a solid R (or D) voting bloc.

What is true, however, is the most (not all) communities with a functioning US military base close by is a solid voting bloc for NOT cutting military expenditures, at least not insofar as they could lead to base closures (and specifically, their base).

[mrguyorama]

The Democrats were much more interested in cutting military budgets until, you know, all that fun with Russia... and China... and Israel. We are very quickly remembering why we spend so much.

The American military budget is mostly the "America guarantees everyone can do business with anyone else (but mostly America) so that we can be very wealthy" budget. Remember that we built and sailed the Great White Fleet before world war 1.