Where have all the soldiers gone?

I see Obama is planning to cut the number of personal in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. I understand we all have to tighten our belts to get through his presidency, but this is equivalent to putting the belt around our neck. I don't have all the details of who and what he is cutting, but it seems to me we could save more by getting rid of some of these highly paid civil servants in Washington. I'm not meaning Congress, just their aides and staff workers, the President's hanger-ons and all those who are there contribute little but gain much.

Yeah, Congress needs to have it's pay and benefits cut. They're pushing so hard to get teachers and others judged by how well they do, wouldn't it be great if the Senators and Representatives were judged by how well they do their job? You might say that they are, the people know what they do and don't re-elect them if they don't get things done, but there's a problem with that line of thinking. How much does the average man-on-the-street know about what goes on in Washington, and especially the daily activities of our Congressmen and women?

Not much, I think. And they don't want us to know. There are some exceptions, like Senator Grassley who visits each county each year. But for the most part, what goes on in Washington stays in Washington. Let's have a board of military and civilian persons whose job is to watch them do their thing, and report to the people what goes on. Wait! Don't we have news reporters? Naw, either too biased to report fairly or too scared of repercussions to speak the truth. There are some who do, but they're not well represented. Oh well, I guess we'll have to dig out the information for ourselves and demand that our politicians we elect be responsible to their electors.