Educate yourself about peace and militarism, and speak out! This is the simplest way to have an impact on those around you. In my experience, I find that very few Americans actually know the extent of our military spending compared with the rest of the world, and how it effects our national priorities. We currently spend around 53% of our discretionary national budget on the military ("discretionary" meaning money that we can choose how to spend, as opposed to non-discretionary financial commitments, like servicing the national debt). We now spend as much as the rest of the world combined on our military! This does not include the obscene 11% across the board increase in military spending proposed in President Bush's 2007 Budget (following a 7% increase in the 2006 budget). It's one thing to make high-minded statements about family values, and health care reform, and energy independance; but to look at the real priorities of our Republican administration, follow the money! The 2006 budget actually cut funds for education, health care, and law enforcement and every other category of domestic spending, while enacting a huge increase in only one area: the Pentagon budget. While justifying a large cut to state law enforcement programs in Bush's 2007 budget, including elimination of the Community Assisted Police (COPS) program, and cutbacks in state funding for homeland security, I heard an administration official refer to "competition for these scarce resources". Nonsense! We are the richest country in the world, by a long shot. The only reason for these "scarce resources" is the fact that our administration is choosing (with the budget) to make the military (and tax cuts for the wealthy) our only national priority. We are draining our coffers so much with our insane militarism, that we lack the resources to address the needs of our people. An Associated Press article on 2/15/07 noted that according to a UN survey, the US ranked 20th out of 21 wealthy countries in child well-being. This is disgraceful, and I agree with many military experts that we can do much better at addressing human needs, without compromising our security at all, just by eliminated waste and outmoded weapons systems. We ranked worst in child health and safety, behind even states such as Poland and the Czech Republic, with only a tiny fraction of our resources. We can do better, if we can wean ourselves from the insanity of militarism and work toward a national budget with more sensible priorities. In another AP article dating 2/16/07, federal auditors revealed that about $10 billion dollars has been squandered by the US government on Iraqi reconstruction, due to contractor overcharges and unsupported expenses. Lawrence Korb, former VP of Raytheon and Asst. Secretary of Defense under Reagan, has estimated that 15% of our total military budget is wasted every year; an annual figure of about 75 billion currently. With this money, we could provide health insurance for every American child, transform Medicare, secure our ports, and make huge strides in education, just for starters! One needn't resort to "conspiracy theories" to understand the insanity of our current military spending; all the facts are out in the open, if you do some digging. I think that if people actually knew these facts, they'd be outraged, and would not agree with our current "national priorities". But nobody talks about it, not even Democrats. Apparently, politicians fear that the military has become such a sacred cow, that they risk their careers by even raising the issue of military spending. The mainstream press almost never talks about the gargantuan military budget, and how it limits our available resources for other needs. This is why we must educate ourselves, and speak out! Here are a few choice links that I have found particularly interesting in my search:
The website of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities. The Budget Analysis link has two incredible charts that show at a glance, the obscene size of our military budget (53% of our discretionary spending, not including the huge 11% increase proposed in Bush's '07 budget), and our gargantuan military spending compared to the rest of the world. It also breaks down very clearly, with concrete numbers, the pressing social problems we could address, just by eliminating outright waste from our military budget.
I find it very exciting that there is a beacon of light in the US Congress, who speaks relentlessly for peace and for the creation of a Department of Peace (the militarists don't like that one).
A site for peace events, with an up-to-date ticker measuring the cost of the war in Iraq.
http://www.gandhiinstitute.org
Founded by Gandhi's grandson Arun, a good starting place for the fascinating study of
nonviolence.