A Rand Paul position that liberal will support

Good for him for having the courage to say we need to cut military spending. We spend more than everybody else in the world put together. A good start would be to end both of the Bush wars. And stop buying fancy gadgets the Pentagon does not want but are funded anyway because some Congressman wants them built in his district. Rand Paul is way out in space on a lot of stuff, but he is absolutely right with this. The way to spend less is--to spend less.

Good point that Ron Paul and Barney Frank came up with a huge cut for the military. I am big on ensuring that our military has enough funds but there is HUGE waste. I agree all cuts should be considered.

If we are going to solve the financial crisis we are in we must look at everything the government spends money on. Rand Paul has also said that when looking at spending cuts everything is on the table. I would agree with his position and think that it should be an across the board cut. I would also include the Congress, that spends Billions on staffing each year. To see what each Congressman and Senator has for a staff salary, excluding their salary, go to: http://www.legistorm.com/salaries.html For comparison I selected two congressmen the first is Ron Kind from Wisconsin who has been in Congress for 10 years and last year spent over $900,000 on staffing and collected a salary of $174,000. The second is one, John Boehner minority leader, last year spent over $900,000 and a salary of $193,000. As Minority leader he also has staff budget of close to $3,000,000. There are 20 leadership positions that have paid staff. Then you add the Senate which staff costs between $2,000,000 to $4,000,000 each and the 20+ leadership positions with paid staff. When they start to cut let them start with their own expenses.

The military is just like any other government institution. There is plenty of fat that can be trimmed. I'm not saying the guys in Iraq or Afghanistan should be using inferior weapons, armor, or intelligence equipment, but we could certainly cut, or eliminate, bases in parts of the world where we really aren't needed or in some cases even wanted, anymore. How many soldiers do we really need in Japan, Germany, or Iceland? There was certainly a time where those brave men and women were vital to keeping said areas stable, but now those are among the most stable places on the planet. How much does it cost to staff and run those bases? What are the costs of keeping all the men and women there with the vehicles and equipment?

Ron Paul and Barney Frank worked on a bill that cut the defense budget and save us 1 TRILLION dollars over the next 10 years. Did anyone in Washington listen? NO! If those two (one a republican and one a democrat) can work together and come up with a bill they both can agree on that saves us money...why can't the rest of them work together. Our defense budget is HUGE and full of waste. Hopefully having some libertarians in there now will help out.