Even industrialists can tire of the pentagon By Ted Williams Is there anyone among us who, if our child asks for bread, would give him a stone? Probably not. Yet, in many ways, our national budget priorities do exactly that. In a time of unprecedented economic prosperity and budget surpluses, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world, and our political leaders cannot find the resources to provide a good education and reliable health care for tens of millions of our children. Despite these frightening statistics, and the lack of a rival superpower, the U.S. spends nearly 17 times as much on defense as the combined total spent by the six countries identified by the Pentagon as our potential adversaries. We seem intent on waging an arms race against ourselves, spending more than 50 percent of our federal discretionary budget on the Pentagon, and tens of billions of dollars on nuclear and conventional weapons systems that have no plausible military purpose. While so many of our nation's resources are wasted at the Pentagon, many of our working poor are struggling in low-paying jobs with no family health insurance and inadequate child care for their loved ones. This is a tragic consequence for a nation that chooses to spend six cents on education, and four cents on health care, for every 50 cents that it spends on the Pentagon. We live in the wealthiest nation on earth, and yet, it is still possible for a family with a full-time worker to live in poverty. The United States has one of the lowest adult literacy rates in the industrialized world. Demand at soup kitchens and food pantries is on the rise, with people being turned away at some facilities because there is not enough. Indeed, for those who are poor and cry out for life-sustaining bread, we offer them stones of war. Even if we eliminated poverty in our nation, neither jobs nor profits would justify military spending beyond the minimum necessary for legitimate national security and international peacekeeping obligations. The end of the Cold War still provides an opportunity to substantially reduce Pentagon spending. Diverting scarce resources from military to human development is not only a just and compassionate policy, but it is also a wise long-term investment in global peace and security. Why? Because true peace and security do not lie in superior fire power, but in a world where every person is enabled to develop his or her full human potential. The well being of our nation's people holds the key to our future peace and security —as well as economic prosperity. We could offer bread to all those who hunger, if we were willing to drop our stones. If we decided not to build just one F-22 fighter jet * designed for Cold War missions that no longer exist * we could build 31 new elementary schools. If we chose to eliminate just three new attack submarines * also a great weapon to attack the Soviets but with little other value *- we could build 90,000 affordable apartment units. In light of the consequences of wasting our resources on the Pentagon, our defense policies must be evaluated and assessed in light of the real contribution to freedom, justice and peace for the citizens of our own and other nations. When weapons or strategies make questionable contributions to security, peace, and justice * and will also be very expensive * spending priorities should be redirected to more pressing social needs. In the true spirit of bipartisanship, our new President and members of Congress must scrutinize federal spending priorities. They must summon the moral courage to say "no" to an inflated Pentagon budget that robs those who are poor and vulnerable. They must say "yes" to a budget that helps lift our people out of poverty. Our nation must say no to the insatiable appetite for more weapons designed to fight the collapsed Soviet Union. If we can do this, then we can transform the stones of war into the bread of life for those in need, both at home and throughout our world. Ted Williams is the former CEO of Bell Industries and a member of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities (www.businessleaders.org), which aims to focus more federal resources on state and local priorities * like providing health insurance for uninsured kids * by trimming the Pentagon budget. _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
