re: Shrink the military? Can right and left agree on this?

What I am saying is reducing international presence with ground forces while bolstering Naval efforts.

Reducing army spending while pumping up the navy.

In the end, a sizable net reduction in spending, mission, and scope. Rather than playing world police, we would be working mostly as a deterrent, ensuring free trade on the high seas, and honoring our treaties with Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.

The big money hogs like Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and Europe would be eliminated.

I would like to spend some of that money on space exploration (bold new Space initiative including manned missions to Mars, probes to Triton and Europa, and setting up an eventual manned station on the Moon) while lifting many of the restrictions currently in place on private space exploration.

That way, we have our cake (a powerful military capable of responding to threats around the world rapidly), and we get to eat it too (reduced spending, reduced military deaths in pointless wars, and continued technological innovation)..