We have to fix U.S. spending issues

The conventions are now over. Literally hundreds of speeches. None of the speeches, including the nominees’, mentioned the gorilla in the room. Namely our ridiculously swollen defense budget.

We spend more than 50 percent of our federal budget on defense, annually.

We spend more on the military than the next eight industrial nations combined.

In addition, we are the world’s supplier of arms and armaments.

We are in the thrall of the military industrial complex that President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about.

We are not likely to get out because politicians can’t seem to talk of this for fear of being labeled “soft on defense.”

Meanwhile, millions of our citizens wallow in poverty with inadequate education, health care and crumbling infrastructure.

We must find a way to reverse this or some sort of fascism may be around the corner.

This story was originally published August 10, 2016 at 7:38 PM with the headline "We have to fix U.S. spending issues."