Sometimes I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place. I voted democrat, I support democratic values, but I can't support democratic politicians when their actions don't support those values.
President Obama is asking that his supporters go out and canvass support for his budget proposal. I did some canvessing for Obama during his campaign, doing my small part in getting him elected. But I can't in good conscience support him when I think he's wrong. That's my right and as many know and take to heart, my duty.
I'm an antiwar/anti-imperialism democrat. Nothing wrong with that and I know I'm not alone. I've railed for nearly thirty years about US foreign policies, especially during the Bush years when imperialism took front and center in our overall foreign policy planning. However if one looks at the facts, this imperialistic approach didn't start with Bush and isn't ending with Bush gone.
We now have all the facts and evidence for the major wars that occurred in the 20th century. We know that all of them could have been avoided and were basically fought over power and money, not as acts of defense. Nearly 300 million people lost their lives due to wars of agression, democide and genocide by government in the 20th century.
Now the US is bankrupt or nearly so, millions of Americans are losing their jobs, homes, and whatever health insurance they may have had. We're giving trillions of money to banks and insurance companies in hopes that they will save us from their own ruinous actions. Logic should tell you that we can't afford to play our imperialistic games around the world any longer. But Obama's budget is indicating that "American interests" and the securing and protecting of them remains our most important agenda.
Here's a summary of the 2010 proposed budget as compared to 2008 and 2009. The last column is the money from the Recovery Act for 2009 and 2010.
2008 2009 2010 Rec Act
-Agriculture 26.1 24.6 26.0 6.9
-Commerce 7.9 9.3 13.8 7.9
-Natl Intel (Classified)
-Education 45.0 46.2 46.7 81.1
-Energy 24.1 33.9 26.3 38.7
-HHS 70.5 78.4 76.8 22.4
-DHS 50.0 40.1 42.7 2.8
-HUD 47.1 40.1 47.5 13.6
-Interior 11.7 11.3 12.0 3.0
-DOJ 23.6 25.5 26.5 4.0
-DOL 11.8 12.7 13.3 4.8
-State 40.9 47.2 51.7 0.6
-Transportation 70.6 70.5 72.5 48.1
-Treasury 12.2 12.7 13.3 0.3
-VA 46.1 50.4 55.9 1.4
-Corps of Eng 9.0 11.1 5.0 4.6
-EPA 7.5 7.8 10.5 7.2
-NASA 17.2 17.8 18.9 1.0
-NSF 6.1 6.9 7.0 3.0
-SBA 1.6 0.7 0.7 0.7
-SSA 9.9 10.5 11.6 1.1
-Natl Comm Svc 0.9 0.9 1.1 0.2
-Total Non DOD 539.8 558.6 579.6 253.4
-DOD 666.0 654.7 663.7 7.4
http://www.whitehouse.gov/...
The proposed 2010 budget continues to place defense spending above all else with over half of the discretionary budget going to DOD. Combine DOD with National Intelligence (classified budget but the 2007 budget was disclosed to be 43.7 billion, not counting drug, weapon and money laundering money), and Homeland Security and you can add over 100 billion to DOD totals for overall US defense and security.
The US has roughly 1000 military bases and camps in over 100 countries around the world.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/...
The term "American Interests" has been solidified in the language and mentality of national politics. We're going to be in Iraq and Afghanistan for many years to come, probably not giving up our hard won bases there at all. Meanwhile, we're trying to establish more bases in the Black Sea area and Africa to further our geopolitical coverage in key areas. There is no sign at all of a let up in US imperialism and hegemony.
So I have no choice. I can't support this budget. I support the Recovery Act, but not the budget as a whole. I don't agree with our foreign policy of imperialism. I'm just going to call it what it is, no need to dance around it. I understand the world is a complicated place and human beings can be nasty creatures. I also realize we are in a situation that is hard, if not impossible to get out of. But I just can't grasp how this military machine, that is supposedly defending American interests around the world, is actually helping Americans. At least those of us who aren't bankers or MIC CEO's. We've been hard at it since the start of the Cold War, and look where we're at now. It seems to me all it does is get many people killed and make a few people rich.
I don't necessarily "blame" Obama for this budget. I don't recall him talking about reducing our worldwide military base structure. I believe the machine is too entrenched now for any politician to be able to dramatically change course. That can only come from the people, forcing the politicians to change. I don't know how that can be done, but remaining quiet while the game continues isn't going to help.