Once again, the folks at Brave New Foundation are telling it like it is:
This short video makes a direct connection between war profiteers and their negative influence on the economy. The makers of the video stop short of calling tax money spent on war contracting Welfare for Corporations, but that is exactly what it has become.
A new organization, Second to None is sending lobbyists in the hundreds to influence the deficit commission. Where are the lobbyists for the unemployed? Or for the military members and their families that are fighting the war? They don't exist.
I had never heard of Second to None before and this video sent me off on a google search to see what I could find out. Their main webpage patriotic celebration of planes and people building planes. They claim that they are under attack, however, by the current administration:
American leadership in aerospace and defense is being threatened by forces in Congress and the administration. The security of our troops, our technological future and our economic stability are all at risk. We must preserve jobs across the nation that keep our nation strong. Join us and act now before it is too late.
Their main concern is that we listen to "Moderates." This is one of the reasons that I will continue to argue that we need a more vocal left wing in the Congress. A reasonable left wing means that the pull to center will always be to the right. Instead, we get arguments like this:
Some extreme voices are calling for massive cuts to our national security and aerospace spending that would devastate our military, weaken our economy, and force us to cede global leadership in a time of increasing threats. Moderates are calling for a more careful approach that cuts waste and gets rid of things that don’t work or that we don’t need. They understand we simply cannot afford to give away the technological and strategic advantage this nation has built over the last hundred years. Even as we balance budgets, the United States must do what it takes to remain Second to None.
I would love to hear some real extreme voices calling for an end to the Department of Defense and the beginning of a Department of Peace. Then maybe we could find the true middle of the equation.
The irony in all this is that I believe that we should not cut all funding for new aerospace innovations. Not at all. But I do believe we need to change where we spend that funding. Military innovation has long been the path to civilian innovation. I say it is time that the military take those funds and make a serious push towards new technologies that use sustainable energy and leave oil behind in the dust.
After all, isn't that why we are at war? We are at war because those citizens of oil countries in the Middle East didn't like our Western influence in their lands so they felt justified to come to our country and commit terrorist acts. I say we leave the Middle East all together. Peak oil has come and we are still fighting the wrong battles. As long as companies like the ones lobbying with Second to None keep arguing for more investment in more war-making technologies that rely on oil, we will be Second to All.
Brave New Foundation is asking for three things:
- Watch the video. It's only 2 minutes long and well worth it.
- Share the video with friends.
- Call committee co-chairs Sen. Patty Murray (202.224.2621) and U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (202.225.3484). Tell them firmly (but politely) that war spending costs us jobs, and we expect them to cut the war budget despite Second To None’s pressure campaign.
If you are on the same page as myself, let the committee co-chairs know that you support investment of the military budget to programs like using
renewable fuels, and
micro-grid technology,
solar energy, to name a few. Furthermore, let's put more American's back to work building these technologies that have both military and civilian applications. It just makes sense.