Hacker News Reader

I get the line of thought and the idea of inflated military budgets but I'm not sure your average Joe should get any say in whether a new weapons system should be funded or not. They have no military expertise and no concept of what might be necessary to win the next war. While I do think there needs to be more oversight over how budgets are allotted to military projects, it shouldn't be decided by "do taxpayers want to pay".

View on HN

So, you're a fan of military juntas then? That's what you get when you remove a civilian guiding hand from military policymaking. I'll give you that civilians absolutely need to keep their nose out of the how, but guidance in terms of the what is absolutely essential. Otherwise you get the MacArthurs of the world calling the shots.

The military industrial complex is absolutely a beast that requires oversight and restraint. Just as the intelligence complex does. I wish more people understood and appreciated it. It doesn't need to be dismantled by a long shot necessarily, but BS needs to be called.

I'm sure there are civilian experts and they absolutely should be involved, as well as elected representatives who are (preferably) guided by experts. Your average citizen has no business chiming in.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com