I saw this on tweeter last night as my wife and I were driving back from Texas. I didn't have the patience or skill to post it on my iPad so I'm posting it now.

From Zero Party Politics:

In an increasingly imperfect two-party system, I will be choosing between the lesser of two evils come November 2nd and avoiding anyone with an “R” beside their name on the ballot. I’m not a Democrat, but I’m also not an idiot, and I have a memory that goes back farther than 22 months. For the sake of giving a very sick America a chance to heal, I hope your memory goes back farther too.

The big question to consider before going to the polling booth next week and contemplating voting “R” again is “why?”

Why on earth would you ever consider voting for a Republican in 2010?

I realize government spending is the hot button issue utilized by those endorsing the GOP and their mentally challenged little brother, the “Tea Party.” However, before you decide to make the colossal mistake of linking “fiscal responsibility” with the GOP and its psychotic sibling, there may be a few hard issues you need to contemplate before you pull that trigger.

Let’s start with the big, bloated elephant (pardon the pun) in the room and address the issue of military spending which I freely admit is equally ignored by both parties. It’s bad enough when Democrats ignore the issue, but when the party which routinely preaches “fiscal responsibility,” ignores the most fiscally irresponsible exercise our government engages in, it becomes nearly impossible to take them seriously.

Before you cast your votes next Tuesday and fall victim to the same "neo-con" con again, please take the time to digest the gravity of this military spending problem while juxtaposing it with the other spending these Republicans and Tea Baggers routinely complain about.  If you can reconcile GOP indifference to defense spending with GOP complaints about TARP spending, Stimulus spending, and Healthcare spending, then please also consider purchasing this bridge I have for sale in Brooklyn--I can certainly use the money.

Let's consider our military budget so that we can fully realize the GOP hypocrisy here. When adding the Department of Defense budget for 2010 (over $719 billion) with other defense related costs in the federal budget, such as International Security Assistance, Veterans Benefits and Services, Interest on National Debt Attributable to Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and other non-DOD “defense” related expenditures, we are due to spend over a trillion dollars this year on our military.

Let me repeat that. We are spending a TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR ON OUR MILITARY.

Recall what Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican President, a five-star general, and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in World War II declared in his farewell address to the American people when leaving office in 1961:

“…we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”

Back when the Republicans were a serious political party, they actually used to worry about an out-of-control military which demanded out of control spending.

But the Republicans aren’t a serious party anymore, so they commonly say very silly things to justify a ridiculous defense budget while claiming there is no money left over for anything else. They’ll routinely cite to the Preamble of the Constitution claiming “providing for the national defense” is right there in black and white. They’re able to get away with this because they are leading an army of drones, and drones rarely scrutinize any information given to them.

Here’s how the Preamble to the Constitution reads by the way:

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Aha! See? Not one mention of “healthcare” and there was “common defense” as PLAIN AS DAY! (Of course there was no mention of ICBM’s either, but this is not a time for logic.)

Do we really need to explain to the party of “duh” why “provid[ing] for the common defense” does not justify the expenditure of a trillion dollars a year?

Of course we do—they are, after all, the party of “duh.” (more...)