War Hawk or Deficit Hawk?

You Cannot Be Both!

Why do we refuse to recognize the economic consequences of our failed policies, or to halt the Bush/Obama war on Afghanistan? (And the other wars too!)  According to a U.S. Army lieutenant, “no one benefits from this war… Only the CEOs and executive officers of war-profiteering corporations find satisfactory returns on their investments…”

“The remains of villages destroyed by our bombs, the dead killed from our munitions, leave us, too, with bloody hands,” as Chris Hedges has said. “We can build a new ethic only when we face our complicity in the cycle of violence and terror.”

Flaunting our military power around the globe, we resort to brute force and economic domination.
Must we, as a people, squander our wealth and our young people in wars of conquest and intervention, financing 1,000 military bases around the world, funding corrupt dictatorships, and imposing “democracy”  on countries whether they want it or not…?

Dismantling a war culture that has undermined democratic governance and cultivating a peace culture mean promoting cooperative rather than domination models, locally, nationally, and internationally. Why not?  Initial steps in this direction require our (1) reducing the military budget, larger than all military budgets in the world combined; (2) abolishing tax breaks for the filthy rich and the multinational corporations; (3) reviving community self-reliance to reduce our dependence on agribusiness and foreign fuel.

Over the past fifty years, creeping militarism and unchallenged corporate greed have undermined our institutions one by one. Preferring comfort and complacency to confrontation, people who should know better, including academics and intellectuals, are silent, while members of the media frequently serve as a public relations agents for the Pentagon and legislators pretending to be “war hawks and deficit hawks” at the same time…

Nonviolent people power helped to remedy previous crises, to uphold justice and to de-escalate violence. Congress may eventually get around to voting on these issues, but by that time the hard work will have been accomplished by all of us joining to force them to do so.

In commenting on public issues, one wants to be balanced and useful, as well as to retain integrity and to be honest about the present state of affairs. Our present crisis, as in the 1920s or 30s or 60s, appears to require ordinary people resorting to demonstrations, sit-ins, and strikes, to sustain democratic governance and values that are dear to informed citizens.

The above is an edited article by retired professor, Michael True.  See the full 4/25/11 article at CommonDreams.org

Stand Up and Speak Out Now!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email ja@interpac.net   http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (April 29, 2011 – 502nd week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office