We probably wouldn't be paying so much towards the military, but god only knows what idiocy would be receiving the money instead. The whims of the people would

We probably wouldn't be paying so much towards the military, but god only knows what idiocy would be receiving the money instead. The whims of the people would probably deliver super-unstable funding, making it confusing as to what programs really were effective and which ones just became scapegoats. Hard to say if that system would be more or less wasteful, especially with the low bar of what's currently happening. Honestly, there's a leadership gap right now, but I'm not convinced that that means leadership as an institution is dead. We need good leadership that people can respect, which does it's job, and is ultimately accountable without endless redirection and blame for "the other guy being the bad one"