Presidential Candidates Must Support Dramatic Pentagon Spending Cuts, Funding of Human Needs Instead, Coalition Says
Contact: Paul Kawika Martin, Peace Action, 951-217-7285 cell, pmartin@peace-action.org
Gabe Murphy, Peace Action, 510-501-3345 cell, gmurphy@peaceaction.org, Thursday, May 23, 2019,
https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/05/23/presidential-candidates-must-support-dramatic-pentagon-spending-cuts-funding
(In our opinion, this article’s proposed $200B cut in the DoD budget is FAR too little! In another article on this website “Senior Republican Slams Pentagon’s Spending Habits” I interjected several reasons for project/program overspending, all of which I personally observed while in uniform but, with discipline, could be logically addressed. And, when you look at the sheer number of such acquisitions within the DoD, it is truly mind-boggling. Then understand that each and every effort is “farmed out” to the civilian sector…. Republicans want to “privatize?” HA! When you realize that virtually EVERY government-run program/project/ task is accomplished by contractors, typically with unqualified government “oversight,” the whole government is already privatized!!!
Therefore, cutting the over-blown DoD budget will cause a certain amount of temporary disruption in “what is familiar.” But, I predict the financial re-allocation to the coalition of progressive organizations (and the probable short-term adjustment of families to a slightly lower income profile) will soon result in greater societal satisfaction from an individual acknowledgement of “doing good.” ~ Don Chapin)
WASHINGTON – The next president of the United States should embrace dramatic cuts in Pentagon spending – at least $200 billion annually from the current $716 billion – and reallocation of the money to human needs, a broad coalition of progressive organizations urged today in a letter sent to all announced presidential candidates.
The letter launches a new coalition initiative to shift fundamentally the debate over Pentagon spending and infuse the issue into the presidential campaign.
Speaking to the letter’s purpose, Paul Kawika Martin, Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs at Peace Action, remarked, “Spending more than half of discretionary taxpayer dollars on the Pentagon fails to make America safer at the cost of other vital needs like job creation, health care and solving climate chaos. At the same time, the U.S. short shrifts funding for diplomacy, development and other tools that prevent wars in the first place. We need bold leadership to break the hold of what President Eisenhower deemed ‘the military-industrial complex.’”
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