Even something like "let's just set next year's budget at, say, 98% of this year's budget" is met with pushback and scorn. As a kid, I remember hearing some po

Even something like "let's just set next year's budget at, say, 98% of this year's budget" is met with pushback and scorn. As a kid, I remember hearing some political debates and people were talking about 'cuts' to programs (military, whatever). Our govt teacher dove in, and showed us what they were actually talking about was cuts to proposed increases. Proposing an increase of 30%, and someone else saying "just make it 27% increase" could be accused of "cutting program X by 10%!" And (enough) people often believe it, and we get nothing done. It would be fantastic if we could, for example, say next years military budget is 99.5% of this years, and the year after, the same thing. 2 years from now we'd still be at ~99% of current spending. I doubt even something this sane could happen. What's all the more crappy about this is some of the same people voting for continued increases in military spending have also been the ones who've condescendingly talked down to people about "family budgeting"-style spending, and "we just can't afford that extra $37m for food programs for the needy!"