Voter wants to cut defense spending and address homelessness, hunger, pollution, chronic and mental illness, violence, poverty, and infrastructure instead.

OCONTO FALLS, WI - Well, we recently managed to raise the artificial debt ceiling, a construct almost no other nation has.  Now we are negotiating the 2024 federal budget, and the past and present are again holding the future and average American hostage- with yet another government shutdown on the horizon.

But as we argue over the crumbs falling off the master’s table concerning our federal budget, aren’t we missing the elephant in the room?

Consider the following being spent IN A SINGLE YEAR:  >$850 Billion for the Department of Defense- a Department which has never passed a federally-required audit and has lost $Trillions in assets, Homeland Security at >$60 Billion,  the V.A. at >$350 Billion, our nuclear weapons program at >$30 Billion, the interest costs of previous wars financed on credit (some of which we lost) at $600 Billion, and additional appropriations like our current proxy war in Ukraine, etc.  That’s >$1.9 TRILLION EVERY YEAR which doesn’t include everything- and equals >$216 Million/Hour!

Meanwhile… homelessness, hunger, pollution, chronic and mental illness, violence, and poverty climb, and infrastructure suffers, and life expectancy declines while we continue this global war posture with >750 bases in >70 countries.  When we look in our hearts, we know this is globally destructive, unsustainable, overloads our military personnel and veterans, and further enriches the already rich.  Meanwhile, our peace and diplomacy budget is miniscule.  Could we declare a war on poverty and fight for peace, justice, equality, and inclusiveness Instead??

Mark Smith
Oconto Falls