Since 9/11

Yesterday marked the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. So I thought it would be appropriate to bring you the results of these two polls.

The top chart is from a Rasmussen Poll taken on September 6th and 7th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults (with a margin of error of 3 points. It shows that 61% of Americans think this country has been changed for the worse by the 9/11 tragedy. I would have to agree. Politicians and corporate moguls have used 9/11 to instill fear in enough Americans to insure that the defense budget keeps growing fatter (at the expense of everything else), and that we continue to fight wars that we never should have been in to begin with -- and sadly, while the Republicans may be the most to blame, too many members of both parties have participated in this march toward endless war.

The second chart is from a recent Gallup Poll done between September 4th and 7th of a random national sample of 1,017 adults with a margin of error of 4 points. It offers a little more hope. While Americans have let themselves be duped into excessive defense spending and endless war, at least they now realize that while terrorism is a problem that should be addressed, it is not the most important problem facing this nation.

That gives me hope that Americans may someday realize it is stupid and unnecessary for this country to be spending around 45% of the world's entire spending on the military -- and more than the next 14 or 15 biggest spenders combined. We could drastically cut our defense budget without hurting our national defense, and that would give us the money to address our domestic problems (poverty, unemployment, education, the environment, etc.) without having to raise taxes.