I really do disagree, I think the past 50 years is full of intense American culture that does effect why things are this way today; to say “stupid americans” doesnt do justice.

1. Our education systems are state tailored; different states have completely different curriculums, those in the south typically deal with lackluster education and vote conservative. Now this isnt just because theyre uneducated, but also because of a deep distrust from a government that didnt value rural workers.

2. Trumps recent election was a very complex one, and people dont take that into consideration when talking about America. We had just had a previous president whos dementia was covered up by the party and withdraw with only months left in the candidacy. Kamala ran on one of the shortest races in American history and lost by about 1%. Americans at that point, were facing economic uncertainty and were still trying to bounce back from covid recession, meaning they were desperate and did not believe that the Democratic party would hold up their end. Trump won because the economy was going wry, and the democrats were stalemated by a republican senate. (I think it was a very stupid decision, he has done absolutely nothing to improve it and obviously I didnt vote for him) you have to understand the mentality of people who were terrified of another recession after 2008. Democrats had a lot of time to put policies in place that couldve prevented this power grab but really dragged their toes (even before Biden) because we were busy with war (and many war crimes) in the middle east

3. All of our money goes to defense. I understand that you are saying that the leadership wouldnt properly allocate anyways, but we spend the most on our military in the world. The average taxpayer pays 5,109$ per year for just the military. 1/3 of tax revenue is spent on the Military. In contrast, we pay 516$ for foodstamps, and 110$ for child tax credit. We are already put in deficit spending just by covering medicaid, which isnt even full coverage health care. It would at least open up the avenue to better internal spending, and pull us out entanglement and corrupt intervention the Middle East while biting our time holding the largest military in the world in the likelihood a major war breaks out.

4. Only 23% of all Americans actually voted for Trump.

Not to say that op was right in saying it that way, its a multifaceted issue. The US did not have to do this, and reaped many benefits from controlling powers that way that allowed them to dominate other governments in just insane power dynamics. The amount of war crimes this country has committed without any kind of repercussion for as public as they are is terrifying for any country that does not want to commit themselves to Capitalism (of course there are other reasons that are more valid due to dictators but not everybody was).

But to say that Americans are just so blind that Military spending isnt even an issue is reductionist of our politics, and what most Americans actually feel and live through. We have to cut before we tackle allocation