I am so so on board with what you're saying. Particularly the prison stuff - gonna go back and delete this later but I was incarcerated when I was younger and work in the system now doing prisoner education/advocacy. We really need change in this area and I think it's finally starting to get public attention. It's going to be hard to change with the amount of privatization, but it's a road that more and more people are willing to walk down.
Legalization of marijuana has caused some of the only serious revitalization of small towns in my area. I live in Washington, and small towns here that have gotten government grants to do massive grow-ops have been completely changed. It offers SO MANY jobs, at all levels - from really well-paid labor jobs for folks with nothing more than a high school diploma, to jobs for botanists and microbiologists and other specialized scientists. Pretty amazing stuff. Also awesome to see what it's doing for school districts here and in CO. I have a lot of hope for this spreading.
I am not sure the military can or will be dialed down. Not that I wouldn't support it, but I just have zero belief this will ever occur, under anyone.
Don't get me wrong, social services are great, and I do think a lot of people want them. What troubles me is when they seem to be offered as a SUBSTITUTE for jobs, instead of an addition on top of them. "Oh, there's no employment anymore? Well, we'll up the amount of food stamps you can get", that kind of thing.
Yep, it's 1 in 3 prisoners who are mentally ill! We definitely need better community health services. I hesitate to use some of the language around rehabilitation, though - I fully believe in rehabilitation and that there are a lot of people who are eligible for it, but some people are not. And I think that's okay, and I think we need to figure out ways to work with those people. How to care for people who are deeply psychotic and will never be able to work or care for themselves while avoiding institutionalizing those people up if in any way possible. I think that also applies to people who have long-term substance abuse issues who are unlikely to ever get sober.