That budget seems to be always nonnegotiable, despite the occasional media outrage. Realistically, how can US voters change this?
As an aside, the US is the only country I've seen give military personnel priority boarding for civilian flights. With all due respect to veterans, it seems so strange to do this sort of worshiping in what is effectively peacetime.
It isn't worship. It is gratitude for their service. Your implication that military service should only be valued during wartime seems odd to me but I'm guessing that your perspective on the proper role of the military in society is probably very different than mine.
I think we could stand to do significantly less worshipping of our soldiers, but a lot of the ones boarding commercial flights are on their way to places like Afghanistan where groups of unfriendly armed crazy people will attempt to kill them.
I agree with you in principle, but calling people you've never met from another country and culture "unfriendly armed crazy people" is a big, sad reason why we even need militaries in the first place. I imagine many of those "crazy people" in Afghanistan consider the US military to be invaders who won't leave them alone.
It's of course all not that simple, but... why the need for unnecessary name-calling? It just perpetuates the "us vs. them" mentality that seems to be at the root of many of society's ills.
As an aside, the US is the only country I've seen give military personnel priority boarding for civilian flights. With all due respect to veterans, it seems so strange to do this sort of worshiping in what is effectively peacetime.