I would add something to John’s post: While I think defense spending should be on the table for cuts, it is a legitimate function of the federal government, unlike many other programs. Education, on which the federal government has spent $121 billion in 2010, should be a state or private-sector responsibility. In FY2010, defense spending was roughly $714 billion, but so was spending on Social Security ($715 billion); so was combined spending on Medicare and Medicaid ($726 billion). Medicaid spending, by the way, is a $275 billion slice of the budget, and a program that should be provided at the state level.