"Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians." ~Chester Bowles

"Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything." ~Frank Dane

There's a delicate balance when crafting state or federal budgets. All politicians promise lower taxes or more social programs, sometimes both. Promise anything to one end: get elected.

Here's the truth: costs can be reduced, but that affects the future of America beyond a politician's time in office. Spend less on education, and 10 years later our workforce is untrained and unable to compete in the global market; oh, be sure to blame the teachers. Cut funds for infrastructure, and five years later we have choppy roads, collapsing bridges, a failing power grid, and (again) an America less able to compete in a global market.

Overspending increases the national debt, places the dollar's value at risk, increases the cost of goods, makes the United States unattractive to investors, and more. The results: America will be less able to compete in a global market.

Not investing in education and the health of our youth is altogether harebrained. In might garner votes in the next election, but the cost is catastrophic: America's future–near future. Cutting military costs is a more logical approach. It might even keep us from unwinnable military adventurism.

Like a partial list of military failures involving American money and blood? There's the Chinese Civil War, Greek Civil War, First Indochina War (Vietnam), Vietnam (after the French got the boot), the Congo Crisis, Bay of Pigs Invasion, Invasion of the Dominican Republic, Angolan Civil War, Soviet War in Afghanistan (we suppled and advised the Taliban), Nicaraguan Civil War, Invasion of Grenada, Invasion of Panama, Lebanese Civil War, 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident (Libya), Action in the Gulf of Sidra (Libya), Bombing of Libya, Iran-Iraq War, 1989 Gulf of Sidra incident (Libya), Persian Gulf War (Iraq), Somali Civil War, and our latest Iraq invasion. These all have occurred in my lifetime. Let's not forget the 1953 coup in Iran, the CIA's first successful overthrow of a foreign government, a democratically elected government; that ended well. There are plenty more.

Assuming we need all our weaponry, the GAO said in a recent report that $70 billion can be attributed to poor management or execution problems. That would pay for a few healthy school lunches that Republicans find too costly. Might even be some loose change to help rebuild for educational systems.

Americans watch the bitter, asinine ideological bickering in Washington and wonder why are schools are failing, our heavy industry (what's left of it) is leaving the United States, our poor are becoming more so, the middle-class is shrinking, medical costs are stratospheric, we're still heavily dependent on overseas oil, and our infrastructure is falling apart.

The political parties want to win—whatever the cost—by annihilating any opposition; there's no productive work being done in Congress. What the hell ever happened to compromise‽

Remember that we voters are ultimately responsible for the financial quagmire we're in. Politicians are no better or worse than the people who elected them.