Here they go again (as a famous Presidential candidate once said). The old "imperial overreach" charge will be dusted off; I guess Paul Kennedy will be making appearances again.

We will be spending over the next 5 years or so about 5-7% of our GDP on military and security measures. The great and fallen empires in the past were spending 50-75% of their GDPs on maintaining their empires.

Isn't it interesting, by the way, that the nations in Europe that Nader would like us to emulate economically - all of whom have higher tax and spending rates to the US - also have higher unemployment, lower growth rates and an aging population with increasingly needs that cannot be met fiscally.

Besides, as Charles Krauthammer has noted: when we went into Afghanistan and then Iraq, the first thing we tried to come up with were exit strategies.

Exit strategies? Some empire.

SMG

As to Sparta and the "militarization" of the US: What SteveMG said.
The US may be spending too much on the military, but a pittence compared to Sparta.

Nader claims that there is "massive neglect of civilian necessities due to corporate domination of our society."

According to the US Commerce Dept's Census Bureau, in 2002 the US government spent $ 1.11 trillion on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the US Postal Service, unemployment payments, excess Earned Income Credits, and food stamps.

According to the US House of Representatives Policy Committee's 2002 Annual Report, spending for agencies such as the EPA, NASA, the Dept of Transportation, EEOC, HUD, the Dept of Labor, NEA, Dept of Education, the Judiciary, Dept of Justice, FDIC, the Library of Congress, the National Park Service, and the Forest Service, et al., was $ 686 billion.

This specifically excludes such potential military or business spending such as the VA, the Dept of Agriculture, the SBA, the State Dept, foreign aid, or the Dept. of Commerce.

Out of a 2002 budget of $ 2.441 trillion, that means that 74% of Federal spending was clearly "civilian" and social in nature, and much more could be debated. For instance, I didn't include the budget for the Peace Corps, which seems, in theory, to be a effective American outreach programme designed to reduce the need for future American military action.

There is no doubt that corporations spend hundreds of millions to influence politicians; However, they haven't succeeded in taking over society, if ever that was their aggregate goal.

Nader is even MORE deluded regarding immigration: He wants to end visas for foreign scientists and engineers.
That might be a defensible position if America were overflowing with scientists and engineers, willing to work for food, but the number of American citizens graduating from American engineering schools has been falling for decades.
Further, if one looks at the starting wages for engineers of all stripes, it's easy to see that great demand exists for engineers. Denying employers the ability to fill those positions with foreign workers potentially reduces the growth rate of the entire economy, damaging the ability of Americans in other fields to find work.
After all, it was Silicon Valley that fueled much of the economic growth of the 90s, and for every engineer hired there were several administrators, assistents, receptionists, and especially salespeople that also found jobs.

Karenna Gore Schiff needs to look at her father's hiring of an image consultant, to tell him to wear earth-tones and be aggressive, as well as her father's overly forceful and anything-but-intimate kiss of her mother at the Dem convention, before she starts assigning any blame for political cynicism. Nader tells America that the two parties are a sham, and are the same under the surface; Al Gore shows America that some people (politically, at least) are pre-packaged and shallow, and have no idea of who their true self really is.

"Isn't the party of institutionalized sodomy the "Spartan" one?"

Yes, there is a straight line.

Oh, goodie, Andrew Sullivan has found his candidate -- one who supports gay marriage. I hope he spends his considerable writing talent extolling the virtues of a Nader presidency.