The new defense budget is a near $80 billion increase over last year’s spending measure. It covers things like buying new ships for the navy, pay raises for military personnel, and increasing the rolls of the Army and the Marines. It does not cover the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the funding for which is contained in a separate, “emergency” spending measure.

These two spending proposals illustrate where the American Government’s priorities lie better than a thousand policy speeches ever could. Just to break it down; congress decides that our country, which already spends a higher percentage of its GDP on defense than any developed nation in the world, needs an $80 billion bump, and no one bats an eye. Yet when someone raises the idea that we ought to be ensuring that poor children can afford to buy medicine and receive the medical care they need, a huge political fight ensues.

Is this what we have become as a nation? Do the American people really value Destroyer-class warships and advanced weaponry over caring for our children? Have we become so callous that we elect to devote more of our resources to stockpiling the tools of destruction over taking care of the most vulnerable members of our society? Do we place the ability to kill over the ability to save lives?

We may be beyond redemption if the answers to these questions are yes. Fortunately, these spending measures do not represent the true will of the American people. Instead, they represent the disconnect between Washington policies and American values. Ask most average people whether we ought to be focusing more on education, health and social welfare, or on stuffing the pockets of defense contractors, and nine out of ten would want us to invest in our people.

The problem is that most people are unaware of our wasteful, reckless policy of ever-expanding defense spending. The reason they are unaware is that it has become uncontroversial in Washington; not only are most elected representatives scared to death of voting against funding for the military, they’re afraid of even discussing it. Anyone who speaks out against buying new billion dollar submarines is suddenly soft on national security, and therefore must want the terrorists to win.

This culture of fear must be reigned in. As we pump an ever-more irresponsible amount of our tax dollars into defense, our social programs, health system, and national infrastructure are deteriorating to dangerous levels. We are witnessing a decline in the essential services provided by our government at a time when tax receipts are at a record high. This neglect must be brought to an end, or we will put our entire society at risk.

A responsible government will invest in the health and education of its citizens. Washington must re-direct their priorities to get in line with what is best for the American people, before it’s too late. Otherwise, we risk becoming a modern-day Sparta, or worse, Soviet Union; pouring our resources into our military at the expense of our citizens’ daily lives.

The first part of this broad question is as follows: Does the media hinder our knowledge of the truth?

By most, the media is seen as a fast an accurate way to learn about events. However, events like the Columbine High School and Virginia Tech shootings call into question the media’s ability to contribute anything to our knowledge.

In these two events within minutes of media reporting conclusions were offered. There were hours of expert testimony, and detailed information given about who the offenders were and what turned them from model citizen to depraved murderers. The problem was the veracity of this information. The Columbine shooters were described as Goth, avid Marilyn Manson listeners, and obsessed with violent movies and video games. Seung-Hui Cho of Virginia Tech was also described as being obsessed with violent video games and movies. In both cases all details provided by the media were either completely false or gross exaggerations. The problem is the media rarely retracts any statements in these situations.

In the case of Seung-Hui Cho, it was his roommate who provided the contradictory details. We were lucky that in this case the interview with Seung-Hui Cho’s roommate was also on live national television. He specifically repudiated the claims that Seung-Hui Cho watched violent movies or played violent games. The roommate went so far as to say he did not remember Cho really being interested in either in any way. Despite this, many experts continued to rail against these two items as a primary cause for the tragedy. Not only did the experts continue, but show hosts actively encouraged the experts and disregarded the contradictory evidence. Why? Other entertainment scapegoats get people to watch.

This warps the ability for actual fact to come out. The media does not care what the truth is; the media cares about getting you to watch. In this line you will also rarely hear much about when the wrong suspect is caught in a case. The first arrest or theory of motive is sensational, anything that takes away from that “credible event or statement” will receive significantly less time, or none at all.

What we have come to rely on for our information has become a consumer product. 24 Hour news has caused the most damage. Not much actually happens each day that can be covered and be interesting. If they can keep one event interesting and consistently advertised to you, you will keep watching to learn what they present to you.

The people we are taught to trust for knowing our “up to the minute world” are not sustaining accurate knowledge. We need responsible media that does not cater to corporate sponsors have only profit as a requirement for success. Our ability to think depends on it.