In the United States 2\/3 of our\nbudget is spent on the military. This is an incredible waste of money. It is a\nwaste and furthermore it is criminal because it is not spent on defense, rather\nit is spent on offense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would be bad enough if that\nwas the whole picture but it isn\u2019t. Because of the United States\u2019 track record\nand the fact that there is no indication that our behavior is going to change,\nwe have forced many other countries to spend lots of money on defense; in this\ncase, really for defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take Iran, for example. Bush the\n2nd named Iran as part of the \u201caxis of evil.\u201d By the second year of his\nadministration the United States had overthrown the government of Afghanistan,\non Iran\u2019s eastern border, and then in short order also Iraq, one of the other\ntwo countries in the \u201caxis\u201d, on Iran\u2019s western border. And when John McCain was\nrunning for president in 2008 and was asked what his policy regarding Iran\nwould be, he smiled and said, \u201cthe old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran.\u201d Then sang,\n\u201cbomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.\u201d It\u2019s not surprising Iran would feel the need\nto build up their military capabilities. We are told to fear Iranian aggression\nbut truth is Iran hasn\u2019t attacked another country in over 200 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take North Korea, as another\nexample. As the third country named as part of the \u201caxis of evil\u201d it is not\nsurprising that North Korea would feel the need to build up its military. Add\nto that the fact that the United States talked Libya into giving up its WMDs,\nthen overthrew their government, wasting the country in the process. Then officials\nin the Trump administration openly suggested using the \u201cLibya model\u201d on North\nKorea. Is it any wonder they would also feel the need to build up their\nmilitary and defense; again, actually defense. In fact is should be obvious to\nanybody paying attention that North Korea\u2019s nuclear build-up is also for\ndefense, as a deterrent to US aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Certainly Iran and North Korea\ndidn\u2019t suddenly start building up their militaries when Bush declared them to\nbe the \u201caxis of evil.\u201d Those countries have long before Bush been targets of\nthe American empire. I cite the \u201caxis\u201d declaration only to highlight how\nblatant the threat is to other countries. The United States has a nightmarish\ntrack record of overthrowing governments all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, back to the point. For every\ndollar that the United States wastes on military adventurism, there is some\nmoney thrown away somewhere else in the world by a country needing legitimate\ndefense against the United States or a neighboring country that we arm. This\nmoney all represents time and labor; effort towards an end. That is energy that\ncould be better spent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a sane world, while people\nand countries would still have differences, the issues between nations would be\nthe struggling with the issue of how we can manage time, labor, and resources\nin such a way that we can all sustainably have a decent standard of living. The\nquest for a comfortable life would go on but unimpeded by so much\ncounterproductive energy. Inspiration and creativity would be towards\nconstructive ends, rather than destructive ends. The \u201cswords into plowshares\u201d\nsaying would also be about turning soldiers into men and women using their\ntalents to create life, not take it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, money and resources are\nsquandered increasing our standard of killing instead of standard of living. At\nthis point in history the United States is the world\u2019s biggest and baddest\nbelligerent. When such a country spends so much money on war and aggression,\nthat waste is amplified throughout the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The snowballing effect of the\nwaste of labor, ideas, energy, and resources leads to impoverishing the world.\nNot just the moral degradation of putting so much effort into weaponry, but\nliterally sucking money out of the hands of the people of the world. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the United States 2\/3 of our budget is spent on the military. This is an incredible waste of money. It is a waste and furthermore it is criminal because it is not spent on defense, rather it is spent … Continue reading