We should rid ourselves of redundant Federal Bureaucracies...and use the money more wisely.

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

We have way too many overseas bases and too much Brass

How do you get to become a 4 Star General in Space Force anyway?

Which overseas bases do you consider unnecessary? The number of overseas bases now is relatively small to when I served in the 70s through 90s.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Cut the depth of commerce and business also.

Redundant in your criticism too?

 

[Harpy Eagle]

It was ruled unconstitutional to do so in 1980. All this is a moot point already. The federal courts will simply declare it unconstitutional based on precedent, something the media is conveniently ignoring for some reason. Kentucky tried to do the exact same thing and the courts overruled the state law in 1980.

You might not have noticed, but the make up of the court has changed a lot since then.

I would not bet money on that ruling standing.

 

[Foxfyre]

Any department that is mirrored by a state level department is redundant and should be dismantled, starting with the Department of Education.

I'm sure once upon a time this agency was established with the best intentions...but now it's time to return these duties and responsibilities back to the States.

We should be using these wasted funds for something NOT redundant. Perhaps a federally funded Innocence Project that reviews the cases of convicted criminals to combat miscarriages of justice like this one...

https://people.com/sandra-hemme-woman-conviction-murder-overturned-judge-believes-cop-did-it-8664950

But money is not unlimited. We need to end redundancy and put part of the savings to better use.

Amen. The federal government has become so large and complicated that nobody on Earth could properly manage it efficiently or effectively. And there is enormous opportunity for those in government to use it for their own self interest.

Our elected representatives now pass very few laws that affect the people in any way. But the faceless bureaucracies of the roughly three million federal employees write hundreds of thousands of rules and regulations with the force of law. No human on Earth is smart enough, no legal team of experts is large enough to know and understand more than a small fraction of those laws which is what makes it so dangerous for the citizens. Any one of us could be breaking a federal law on any given day and a malicious, or weaponized government could probably find one of those to prosecute us if they wanted us punished or silenced or put away. It is how politicians can extort big money from big business, i.e. threaten to enforce this or that regulation or pass this or that law that is either favorable or not favorable.

". . .By our count, the final version of the ACA amounted to 961 pages, or about 475,000 words, which so far have triggered 265 unique rulemaking activities. These regulations translated to almost 9,000 pages, or more than 9,000,000 words, that were finalized by the end of 2019. . .

Regulation, Delegation, and the Affordable Care Act | The Regulatory Review

Empirical study of the ACA’s implementation provides insight into the delegation of policymaking authority.

www.theregreview.org

You can be sure that many more ACA rules and regulations have been added since 2019 as well. The most onerous removed via EO by President Trump were reinstated by Biden in 2021.

The U.S. Department of Education should be a small department within a standing department and have no force of law but rather be a data gathering and information source that would be useful to all public, private and parochial schools and higher education. And the U.S. government should be funding no teacher's union or any other union.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I didn’t put words into your mouth, those were my words. If you no longer have a budget to maintain your military, including the equipment, and the personnel, eventually those things will start falling apart.

It takes money to maintain…and replace aging and worn out equipment. At a yearly budget of 200bn, how far would that go?

I don’t know, but if you think 200bn is enough to keep us on the cutting edge of military supremacy, then next time you have total power, start cutting..

Nailed it!

Much of our equipment for the military is wearing out and can no longer be upgraded to provide state of the art performance. The B-52 is 70+ years old. The Air Force is also flying F-15 and F-16s from the 70s and 80s The Navy is decommissioning nuclear aircraft carriers now because they are almost 50 years old. The second oldest carrier has spent 8 months battling the Houthis in Yemen. The new destroyers are getting to be 35 years old. Replacements for these cost billions. 200 billion hardly pays the soldiers, sailors, airman and Marines.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

You might not have noticed, but the make up of the court has changed a lot since then.

I would not bet money on that ruling standing.

The court was conservative in 1980. They interpreted the Constitution correctly at that time, and the current court will likely do the same.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Every State has an Education department or it's equivalent. All the feds need to do is set minimum Standards, and they can do that for a fraction of the cost they impose on us now.

You do realize the Education Department has the smallest budget in the federal government and most of that involved special education for states and student loans?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

The way they did prior to 1979.

Poorly and with rampant discrimination?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Dismantling Medicare and letting seniors make do with their state’s Medicaid program would be a fascinating experiment.

How long have you been on Medicaid? You obviously know nothing about Medicare or Medicaid!

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Poorly

You might want to look at US student standings vs the world in 78 and now and see if we are doing better or worse.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

And I never suggested not having a military budget.

Well, someone else brought up $200B.

I would suggest that if our enemies have an improved subsea capability that looks like it will be rivals to our existing inventory, we should expand our capability. We don’t do that. We develop replacement arms for inventory that is still the platinum standard in it’s class.

The Nimitz class carriers.... The best ships in the water. Yet amazingly, we are building a new class, the Ford Class. And we’re building 10 of them. Nimitz class, $5B each. Ford class...$13B each.

Are you seriously going to sit there and tell me we need the Ford Class right now? The Rooskies have 1 carrier. One. China? Three.

We have 10 ships that are getting very old and are getting close to their 50 years service life. There is one Ford class at sea with two more building.

We stay at sea all around the world. Those countries do not. China does not deploy to the Mediterranean, Red Sea or Persian Gulf, do they? I once traveled to the coast of Russia on the Black Sea. Russia send a few ships to the east coast, and everyone has a panic attack!

 

[Oddball]

Bringing our troops home is asinine. The reason they are there is to provide an instant response should any other country get out of line. We have troops in Korea to prevent NK from invading. The same can be said for Poland to keep the Russians quiet in regard to NATO. Our military stationed in Japan does the same for China in regard to Taiwan. Who else would there be to bring home?

Bullshit.

WW2 & the Cold War are long over.....The rest of the world isn't Murca's bastard stepchild that needs constant tending.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

You might want to look at US student standings vs the world in 78 and now and see if we are doing better or worse.

Comparing the US to any other country in the world is ridiculous because they all have homogeneous populations. They are not melting pots. Our best students rank right up there with the rest of the world, but immigrants and minorities drag us down. Sad to say, but the truth hurts. Most of that change occurred after 1978, which happens to be when I graduated from high school.

Back then a child in a wheelchair, even crutches, or anyone with a learning disability simply did not attend school because it was believed to be a waste of time. When I became a teacher in 1996, I often had more than half of my students with IEPs as special education students, and I taught math, not special education. Mainstreaming kids with learning and physical disabilities and quickly became the norm. Something like that does not occur in other countries. They simply do not educate all students like we do.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Bullshit.

WW2 & the Cold War are long over.....The rest of the world isn't Murca's bastard stepchild that needs constant tending.

So Russia didn't just invade another country on NATOs border? China is not threatening Taiwan? North Korea is still in a state of war with South Korea? Iran is not using proxies to fight Israel in Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen threatening international shipping in the Red and Arabian seas?

What planet do you live on?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Two areas we agree.

And you are both wrong! Congratulations!

 

[Oddball]

So Russia didn't just invade another country on NATOs border? China is not threatening Taiwan? North Korea is still in a state of war with South Korea? Iran is not using proxies to fight Israel in Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen threatening international shipping in the Red and Arabian seas?

And the Murican neocons and MIC haven't been provoking each and every one of those "adversaries", in one form or another?

What planet do you live on?

A planet where we're not still fighting the war from 40 years ago.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

The votes complain, those they elect do nothing about it.

Not unlike you Repubs who complain about illegal immigration yet you beloved party never really does anything about it when in power.

We did when Trump was in office, despite Democrats being obstructionists.

 

[bripat9643]

"I

If anything, we need more federal investment in the states, not less. There are plenty of federal redundancies that we can get rid of. Space Force for one.

"investment" is the euphemism lefties use to refer to flushing money down the welfare state toilet. Your obviously a government employee.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

And the Murican neocons and MIC haven't been provoking each and every one of those "adversaries", in one form or another?

A plane where we're not still fighting the war from 40 years ago.

That plane is like most our military and getting obsolete!

The MIC is provoking Russian China, and Iran? Again, what color is the sky normally on your planet?

 

[Oddball]

That plane is like most our military and getting obsolete!

The MIC is provoking Russian China, and Iran? Again, what color is the sky normally on your planet?

Oooooa typo!!....You sure gave me the ole what for!

Get bent, fucking warmonger.