You would need to have it rise to the level of a modern military to secure your borders. If history has taught us one thing, it's that undefended resources get taken by force. Not saying the current system is perfect, but what I am saying is that the free rider problem would almost certainly prevent funding from reaching a level necessary to maintain a modern military.

A proportional representation voting system is not a guarantee for steady government either. It makes continuity more likely, but it's not guaranteed... Just look at Italy, which has had a new government about every 18 months since ww2.


On the flip side, proportional representation can get very stale and static. Come our next general election in 2021, Germany will have spent 46 of its 72 years of post-war democracy under the rule of just 3 chancellors who each stayed in office for at least 14 years. And this happened even though everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone was sick of them by the end of their tenure and they werent getting anything productive or forward-looking done anymore.

In first past the post systems, you at least have a high chance of ousting an incumbent who has performed badly or slipped in the polls. In proportional representation, you can easily end up with a situation where the incumbent is guaranteed to stay in office in spite of a bad job performance and massively eroding public support. Another example of this is the current situation in Israel, where a large part of the country is sick and tired of Netanyahu yet they still cant seem to get rid of him.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on May 3 2020 11:56pm

Pessimistic speculation without proper consideration of potential models and realities.
Voluntary payment agreements(contracts), Subscription services, self interest, treaties, diplomacy, public pressure, gun+liberty culture, pro-military culture. etc.

Legitimate armed forces can exist in a free market society for a fraction of the current costs, which are already a small portion of most countries' spending.

Also, Iceland doesn't even have a standing army.


Thought experiment:

If tomorrow the government said they weren't going to tax anyone to fund the military, do you think the military would be gone and the country would be taken over?


This post was edited by cambovenzi on May 4 2020 12:12am

If tomorrow we cut all military funding then every soldier would walk off because they aren't getting paid, contractors would stop supplying materials, etc. etc.

Yes, we would see a total collapse of the military, and the only thing that might save us would be military intervention of our allies which do fund their militaries through taxation.

Now who is being unrealistic?
Imaginary daily income taxation doesn't same-day fund the military paychecks.

'Every soldier' wouldn't abandon their posts.

The proposal isn't to permanently cut all funding sources to military forces.
Alternate revenue streams would certainly be set up to replace the tax, as people obviously recognize the benefit and support it.

This post was edited by cambovenzi on May 4 2020 12:23am

You're being far too optimistic. If you stopped all military spending over night, not just the military would collapse, but the entire US economy. It would fall like the dominos. The military-industrial complex is such a huge part of your economy that it would probably take a decade plus to downsize it responsibly, without crashing the economy. Even tax cuts funded by the spending cuts couldnt absorb the sudden loss in demand.

This post was edited by Black XistenZ on May 4 2020 12:23am

Then what is the proposal, specifically?

Indicating that you are going to stop taxing people to fund the military in the future doesnt immediately stop all spending.

Aside from that, You are presupposing the government taking money from people to give to the military industrial complex is the health of the economy, which couldn't be more offbase.
It is largely wasteful and unnecessary.

Economies don't reorient immediately. The military industrial complex is a huge source of jobs and money movement which will be lost and won't be replaced immediately.

The worst thing for an economy is instability, and announcing that a bunch of previously guaranteed jobs and funding are going to be gone soon is going to create instability in the short term.

So every soldier that is currently getting paid will now be in question, every job that supplies the military would be in question (and that's a LOOOOT of jobs), all stocks involving military contractors would be under question, etc. etc. It really would be a total shitshow.

+ the koch brothers can take this as a chance to form a private army by hiring everyone that just lost their jobs, perform a coupe and start another government.