BY POLLY MANN
It was during World War II that I became convinced that war was evil and that it served no good purpose. At that time I was working as a civilian employee in the Quartermaster’s Office at an army camp in Arkansas where, at lunchtime I walked through the camp watching young men being trained to kill. Bayonet practice was especially heinous as the young soldiers lunged with their bayonets at a hanging dummy (the same kind used in football scrimmages) as the sergeant shouted: “Get’em in the gut. Rip out their insides. That S.O.B. hanging there just raped your sister.” I watched troop trains depart with tearful relatives at the platform.
Since then this country has been involved in two major conflicts and has 84 active military installations worldwide. Our military’s budget for 2016 is $1,300 billion; human resources is $1,251 billion; general government is $242 billion; and physical resources are $135 billion (War Resisters League figures). As you can see, most of our tax dollars are allocated to the military. A goodly amount of that goes to the corporations that profit from the sale of armaments, which includes guns, tanks, nuclear missiles, etc.
If this was a country where there was little if any poverty, no hungry people, no homeless people and no sick people unable to pay for medical care, then that $1,300 billion for the military might be acceptable. But you only have to look around you and read or listen to the news to realize that many people live in poverty—which might be understandable if the country as a whole was poor. But this is a rich country. The wealth is very unevenly divided, with the 1% at the top making ungodly sums (and I do mean ungodly) and the middle class shrinking and the poor increasing. Four hundred families own half the wealth of the entire country.
It’s interesting to see how this country rates in terms of social progress. Professor Scott Stern of Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked 133 countries on their performance in three categories: 1) Basic Human Needs (food, water, shelter, safety); 2) Foundations of Well-being (basic education, information, health and a sustainable environment); and 3) Opportunity (freedom of choice, freedom from discrimination and access to higher education). According to him the United States ranks sixth in terms of Gross Domestic Product, but it is 16th overall in social progress; 30th in personal safety; 45th in access to basic knowledge; 68th on health and wellness; and 74th in ecosystem sustainability.
So how do we reconcile this situation? There are too many Americans who are convinced we have to “remain strong” militarily to suggest total disarmament but I propose that we initiate a campaign calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Even if a country using nuclear weapons was not met with a responding nuclear attack, their use would pollute the atmosphere worldwide and would cause devastating agricultural collapse and widespread famine. To respond with nuclear weapons just might be the beginning of the end.
It seems to me that there is a connection between our tremendous military budget and our poor rating in other areas. The price that is paid for our military means that services needed for the well-being of our citizens are far below what they should be. How about nuclear disarmament? If it were genuine, an eventual pact against their use is not impossible.
