What would be an acceptable military budget?

[Starks]

Just wondering.

[noxagol]

well for now, probably close to 300 billion. Once everything is withdrawn we could have the same amount of military at home with close to 100 billion and get them new equipment and start to decommission all the old shit. Very rough estimates here based on a modicum of research over some time.

[fsk]

How about zero? That sounds like the right amount.

[SeanEdwards]

Originally Posted by fsk

How about zero? That sounds like the right amount.

Zero sounds like the amount of thought you put into that position.

[fsk]

Who has the right to steal from me and use that money to kill other people?

I accuse you of not thinking.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

Originally Posted by Starks

Just wondering.

Well, you have to first know the budget lol. We should probably cut it in half or more. Why do we need a few million man military? Let's close those foreign bases and use those savings to cut taxes and cut further spending. Every individual in the military is one less in the economy.

[fletcher]

Originally Posted by SeanEdwards

Zero sounds like the amount of thought you put into that position.

LOL. I agree.

[noxagol]

Originally Posted by fsk

Who has the right to steal from me and use that money to kill other people?

I accuse you of not thinking.

Well for one, those people do work to keep you alive and our country safe. And under Ron Paul the only people they would be killing would be actual invaders and threats.

[JosephTheLibertarian]

Originally Posted by fsk

Who has the right to steal from me and use that money to kill other people?

I accuse you of not thinking.

anarchist? I'm still hanging on the fence with this. I love the idea of anarchism, but could it work? Libertarianism provides a viable alternative.

[fsk]

The MSM intentionally creates a bias that all anarchists are fruitcakes. There are many different flavors of anarchism.

The model I like is called "agorism". I discuss this on my blog, and you can look elsewhere on the Internet. Basically, agorism says that people should get together and trade, without reporting their transactions to the government for taxation, regulation, and confiscation. By avoiding taxes and regulations, you would see productivity gains of 50%-95% or more. An agorist revolution would have self-sustaining exponential growth, once it gets started.

I explain agorism in more detail on my blog, or you could search the Internet.

In a truly free market, anything that there's a demand for gets done. If a lot of people are concerned about invasions, they will buy guns or pay for a trained police force.

In the present, suppose an invasion force of 10,000 or even 100,000 landed in a major US city. Would they have any chance of success? The local police alone probably could handle it. There probably would be reinforcements sent from neighboring cities. The invading army would have supply issues, whereas the local police could just buy supplies from stores.

I don't think an invasion force is a realistic possibility.

Terrorists should be treated like every other criminal. Further, without a centralized government, terrorist attacks are less "profitable".

If you believe "using violence to steal is wrong", then anarchy/agorism is your only conclusion.

Remember that in a truly free market, any problem that a lot of people want solved gets solved. Instead of being forced to pay via taxation, people will voluntarily pay for things that concern them.