Defense Spending: Are our global aspirations exceeding our available resources?

Yep. Empires are expensive. So expensive they tend to eventually bankrupt their mother republics, and drive them into either gentle or catastrophic decline.

Without question. Anyone who has ever served knows firsthand that fraud, waste, and abuse are rampant in every unit. The Pentagon can't account for billions of taxpayer dollars that were meant to ensure soldier safety and national security. Meanwhile, hawks on both sides of the aisle encourage more, more, more military spending on frivolous programs, redundant capabilities, crony deals, and unending global conflict. The Constitution which we swore to defend has been mocked and disregarded in favor of policies which hamper military readiness, degrade homeland security, usurp legislative authority, and expose our fighting men and women to undue harm. We need foreign policy realists in office who see the world for what it is, and are responsible and prudent when considering expending our Nation's most precious resource: the blood of her sons and daughters.

If they stop spending on the most wasteful development project in history there might be funding for the real-warfighting. http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/04/15/first-version-of-f35s-wont-outdo-a10-in-battlefield-capabilities.html?ESRC=dod.nl#.VTGcWxqaffY.facebook