What the World Needs Now, Judy Wicks, Spring 1997
While Congress passed a budget which gave the Pentagon $11 billion more than it asked for, it left 25% of our nation's children defenseless from poverty-inflicted violence, ignorance, and hunger. Though championing a frugal federal government, congressional leaders continue to lavish an extravagant portion of our tax dollars, nearly half of all discretionary funds, on the world's most costly bureaucracy. The Pentagon's ineptitude in fiscal management is well known, from buying $600 toilet seats and $6,000 door hinges to writing off $30 billion, more than the entire federal education budget, for expenses with such inadequate records that no one even knows what we bought with our billions. Meanwhile an increasing number of our taxpayers must count out every penny just to meet basic expenses. The dream of owning a home and sending children to college in exchange for hard work has become a cruel hoax for much of America. While tax dollars neglect our schools & hospitals, railroads & bridges, theatres & concert halls, scholarship funds & venture capital pools, billions are spent on weapons for killing human beings.
Our $265 billion military budget has not only diverted our financial resources and human capital away from building an economy based on improving our quality of life, but has had a devastating effect on our social fabric. Violence is now at epidemic proportions, according to the Center for Disease Control, and a leading national health problem. As long as our government demonstrates that conflicts are settled by violent means, how can we expect any different in our homes, schools & streets? It makes perfect sense that the world's number one military power also ranks tops in homicides and jails. While we spend our fortunes to protect our shores from non-existent intruders, we are losing an internal war to the forces of violence, greed, and the hopelessness and despair of America's broken promises.
Why is it that even during this time of budget deficit crisis, a meaningful reduction in the military budget, favored by the majority of Americans, is not even on the table? The answer is clear as we watch arms manufacturers in lobby-rich districts put politicians in office who will preserve their lucrative jobs, even when it means ordering weapons that we don't need or want, and which do absolutely nothing to increase our security. Spending $449 million more than requested for military helicopters or $780 million in un-requested equipment for the National Guard and Reserves have no other purpose than lining the pockets of defense manufacturers and their political cronies. Although the ten largest defense contractors have all been convicted of or admitted to fraud, recent mergers financed with our tax money have consolidated their power, tightening their grip on public policy and raising questions as to how close we are really becoming to a military-industrial dictatorship.
The need for a strong defense in an unpredictable world is undeniable, but it makes no sense to maintain a military budget at Cold War levels, while Russia has reduced theirs by 80%, China spends less than $30 billion, and all other countries who are identified by the Pentagon as potential threats spend less than $12 billion combined. Who are we afraid of? We have already learned from our Cold War experience that our own militarism only causes fear in others, perpetuating a senseless arms race among people who could easily become friends and economic trading partners. Are we going to keep repeating the same mistake?
Many have been duped into thinking that peace time offers no job opportunities, when it's just the contrary. While we've saved jobs for bomb builders, we've cut them for teachers, job trainers, childcare workers, nutritionists, drug abuse counselors, public defenders, affordable home builders, artists, park rangers and environmentalists. There would be plenty of great jobs to go around if we spent as much money on serving people as we do on destroying them. Military experts all agree that we could cut the budget by at least $40 billion a year without jeopardizing our security. Why don't we start there, and begin to train people for jobs that address our true needs and provide fulfilling careers?
While viewing the exhibits at the regional high school science fair, I was appalled that the aisles were filled with uniformed military officers handing out prizes. When I complained about using a school fair to promote militarism, it was explained that the educational institutions could not afford to give prizes. Underfunded public schools are easy targets for military dollars aimed at attracting our youth to the false god of military jobs. Specifically located in low-income neighborhoods and rapidly growing in number, Jr ROTC classes train high school students to shoot guns and teach them history from a "might is right" perspective, while lessons in non-violent conflict resolution would far better prepare them to solve the problems of their local and global communities.
Controlling over 70% of the international market in weapons, the U.S. peddles our products of destruction to undemocratic regimes and unstable regions across the planet where they have been used to massacre civilians from El Salvador, to Rwanda, to Indonesia. Of the 48 regional wars going on today, 39 involve U.S. weapons, and since World War II, over 40 million people have died in these conflicts, largely civilians and children. Wouldn't we rather be the world's largest manufacturer of consumer electronics, a position we've lost to our competitors, than the world's largest arms dealer? Why don't we stop to think about what the world's citizens would really like to buy in the global marketplace and redirect our tax dollars from marketing & subsidizing arms sales into funds for conversion to peace time products and services?
What the world needs now is a country strong enough and courageous enough to lead us in a new direction, away from violence and war and toward peace and real security. There are more weapons in the world, yet more wars than ever. It's time to try a new approach. What is peacemaking? Isn't it really all about communication and education, fields we already know we must excel in for success? Unlike military training, which teaches young people to dominate through physical force, inflict pain, operate under authoritarian values rather than democratic ones, and learn routinized tasks rather than creative problem solving, the skills taught in peacemaking are the same for successful living in any circumstances from the boardroom to the bedroom. By learning how to listen empathetically, communicate effectively, overcome fear of differences, and build on our commonalities, non-violence leads us to a bright future.
A world at peace is not a mythical place. Although it may be a long journey, it is possible if we begin to move in that direction. What is mythical is the glamorized fallacy of achieving peace through war and violence. Today's reality is that we are living in a society where money is valued above human lives and fear and ignorance are used to herd us toward the inevitable cliff of social and economic destruction, following in the path of the militarized societies who have gone down before us from Rome to Russia. There is an alternative. First to envision and believe in peace and then to muster the courage to begin the process of laying down arms and seeking peace through peaceful means. If America does not lead the way, who will?
Judy Wicks
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